Euro area exports rise in Jan. but trade balance in deficit by $644 million

The Eurozone recorded an international trade in goods deficit of 600 million euros ($644 million) in the month of Jan. 2017, according to data released by the European statistics office on Friday.

The 19 countries that use the euro currency exported goods to the tune of 163.9 billion euros in Jan. _ an increase of 13 percent compared to the previous year _ and imported 164.5 billion euros from the rest of the world (a 17-percent uptick), which left a net trade deficit of 0.6 billion euros.

This contrasts with Jan. 2016, which, according to the figures provided by Eurostat, left a net trade surplus of 4.8 billion euros for the Eurozone.

The first month of this year also saw 145.7 billion euros in intra-Eurozone trade, a 10-percent rise compared with Jan. 2016.

In the entire year of 2016, goods exports from the Euro area to the rest of the world amounted to 2.047 billion euros _ virtually the same figure as in the previous year _ and imports constituted 1.775 billion euros, a two-percent drop compared to 2015.

This left 2016 with a net balance of 271 billion euros in surplus.

According to Eurostat's first estimates for Jan. 2017, exports from the entire European Union (28 countries) to the rest of the world reached 141.2 billion euros, 16 percent more than in Jan. 2016 (121.4 billion euros).

Meanwhile, imports into the EU hovered around 157.4 billion, an 18-percent increase compared to Jan. 2016.

As a result, the EU bloc showed a trade deficit of 16.2 billion euros with non-EU countries.

The category with the sharpest climb in exports was that of raw materials, which rose 33 percent, while imports of the same increased by 10 percent.

As to imports, the most significant upsurge was recorded in the category of manufactured goods, which increased 35 percent.

Of these, chemical products saw a 60-percent rise in imports, while vehicles and machinery increased by 23 percent.

Source: EFE

EU trade unions call for UK to remain in single market after Brexit

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) on Monday called for the United Kingdom to remain within the European single market and customs union after its exit from the European Union in order to safeguard the rights of both British and EU workers.

As Wednesday's triggering of Article 50 gets closer and the launch of a two-year period of negotiations on the UK's exit from the bloc and future relationship with the EU, the ETUC called on the European Council to issue guidelines that "guarantee that workers will not be used as bargaining chips."

Source: EFE

Putin meets with Le Pen, denies Russia wants to influence French elections

The Russian President on Friday met with the far-right French presidential candidate and denied that Moscow wanted to influence the upcoming national elections.

In an impromptu meeting with National Front (FN) candidate Marine Le Pen in Moscow, Vladimir Putin said he in no way wanted to influence events but that he had the right to meet with representatives from all political forces, as is done by Europe and the United States.

Source: EFE

UK police: 2 new arrests in relation to Westminster attack, 9 in custody

Two more people have been arrested during police raids in relation to a terror attack on Westminster that left five dead, including the assailant, London Metropolitan Police said Friday.

Some nine people remained in police custody amid an ongoing security operation across the United Kingdom.

Speaking to the press outside New Scotland Yard, the Met's acting Deputy Commissioner and counter-terror chief, Mark Rowley said: "we have made two further significant arrests overnight_ one in the West Midlands and one in North West."

"We have searches at five addresses that are ongoing_ 16 searches have concluded. So far we have seized 2,700 items from our searches including massive amounts of computer data," Rowley continued.

He also named the 75-year-old man who died overnight in hospital from injuries sustained in the terror attack as Leslie Rhodes, from Streatham, south London.

Two people remained in a critical condition, including one person with life threatening injuries, he said.

Rowley said at least 50 people were injured in the attack, with 31 requiring hospital treatment.

He said those affected were of all ages and at least 12 nationalities, and added: "It is a poignant reminder that the impact of this attack on the Capital will reach around the world."

Rowley appealed to all members of the public to contact the police if they had any information regarding the attacker.

Over 3,500 witness had been contacted, he said.

Rowley also revealed that the birth name of the UK-born attacker was Adrian Russell Ajao, although he had later gone by the name Khalid Masood and other aliases.

"We remain keen to hear from anyone who knew Khalid Masood well; understands who his associates were; and can provide information about places he has recently visited," said Rowley.

In a speech to the lower house of Parliament on Thursday, British Prime Minister Theresa May said the attacker was believed to have acted alone and had some years ago been investigated by the interior security service, MI5.

"He was once investigated in relation to concerns about violent extremism. He was a peripheral figure. The case is historic_ he was not part of the current intelligence picture," said May.

On Wednesday, Masood drove a car through crowds of pedestrians on Westminster Bridge killing three: Aysha Frade, a 43-year-old British national of Spanish origin, Kurt Cochran, an American tourist whose wife was injured in the attack, and Leslie Rhodes.

Masood then attacked police with a knife, killing Police Constable Keith Palmer before being shot dead by armed officers outside Parliament.

Rowley told the press on Friday that the number of armed police officers in London was at near double strength, while across the UK police numbers had been boosted by around a third.

Speaking about the commemorations that took place in central London late on Thursday, Rowley said the cross section of people who had gathered to remember sent a strong message.

"A strong message_ to those inspired by hate and extremism of all persuasions that we will not give in to those who seek to breed discord and fear," he said.

Source: EFE

EU asks Brazil to suspend meat shipments amid scandal

The European Union has asked Brazil to voluntarily suspend all shipments of meat to its member countries to avoid imposing a ban that would take time to lift, but the Brazilian government has not agreed, EU diplomats in Brasilia told Reuters on Thursday.

Brazilian meat exports have in any case ground almost to a halt following a police investigation into corruption involving food-sanitation inspectors and accusations that rotten products were sold.

A spokeswoman said Brazilian Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi was not aware of the request.

The Brazilian government suspended meat shipments from the 21 meat-packing plants under investigation by the federal police, while insisting the quality of Brazilian meat was not in doubt.

But European farm groups called on the EU Commission on Thursday to take stronger action against Brazilian meat imports because of the scandal. EU experts meet in Brussels on Friday to decide on possible further measures.

The EU had already suspended imports from four Brazilian meat-processing facilities earlier this week.

EU ambassadors have been seeking more information on the irregularities discovered in Brazil's meat industry and have criticized Brazil's government for failing to deal with the problem as a public health issue, according to a European diplomat who attended a EU meeting on Wednesday.

"We asked the Brazilians to suspend all exports but they refused," said the diplomat, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.

"There is overall disappointment with the way Brazil is treating this as a public relations issue rather than from a public health point of view," the diplomat said.

Another European diplomatic source confirmed the request that Brazil voluntarily suspend all meat shipments to the EU because a ban would take a long time to undo, whereas meat sales could resume at any time if Brazil held off shipments.

LARGEST MEAT EXPORTER

The corruption scandal has hurt Brazil's reputation as the world's largest meat exporter, with sales of almost $14 billion last year. The industry employs 4 million workers.

Brazil's JBS S.A. (JBSS3.SA), the world's biggest meat processor, said on Thursday it suspended beef production at 33 of its 36 plants in Brazil for three days because of the lack of sales.

A dozen countries, including Brazil's largest trading partner, China, have suspended imports of Brazilian meat as a precaution, and eight others have stopped imports from the plants under investigation.

Brazil exported beef, chicken, pork and other meat products worth $1.76 billion to EU members in 2017, and a similar amount to China, where some of the largest Chinese food suppliers have pulled Brazilian beef and poultry from shelves.

Brazilian President Michel Temer said he would call his Chinese counterpart to urge China to review its import ban.

Maggi said on Wednesday that Brazilian meat exports sank to $74,000 on Tuesday from a daily average of $63 million. He told a congressional hearing the scandal could cost the meatpackers $1.5 billion or 10 percent of annual meat exports.

He said on Thursday the police announcement of the corruption probe was exaggerated and wrongly suggested meat quality was being investigated instead of the individuals who violated sanitary rules.

Still, European farm groups Copa and Cogeca said corruption cases were unacceptable.

Brazil's failure to apply EU-equivalent food safety standards raises "serious concerns" about ongoing trade talks between the EU and South American trade bloc Mercosur that Brazil is part of, they said in a letter to the EU Commission.

Source: Reuters

Brazil court rules in favor of Petrobras in tax deduction case

A Brazilian tax court ruled that state-controlled oil company Petróleo Brasileiro SA did not break the law by deducting expenses related to the development of oil and gas field from its 2009 income taxes.

According to a Friday securities filing, the Finance Ministry could still appeal against the ruling by the tax auditing court, known as CARF.

The Finance Ministry is seeking 5.1 billion reais ($1.6 billion) from Petrobras in compensation for the deduction, newspaper Valor Econômico reported on Thursday.

Source: Reuters

Brazil scandal tests JBS, BRF push for overseas units IPOs

Brazil's two largest food processors are striving to restore confidence in their quality controls as they pursue plans to list overseas units after a scandal over alleged bribery of health officials that triggered bans on Brazilian meat exports.

On Friday, police named Brazil's JBS SA, the world's top meatpacker, and BRF SA, the largest poultry producer, alongside dozens of smaller peers in a probe into alleged payments to officials to forgo inspections and overlook practices including processing rotten meat.

The scandal broke weeks before JBS and BRF were due to launch the initial public offerings of their foreign-based units JBS Foods International and One Foods Holdings Inc - which is BRF's halal meats unit. The deals could fetch a combined $2.5 billion and help accelerate expansion outside Brazil.

While JBS and BRF have denied wrongdoing, the reputation of one of Brazil's flagship industries has been hard hit. Exports of Brazilian meat fell to $74,000 on Tuesday from a daily average of $63 million before the scandal.

China, the largest consumer of Brazilian meat, suspended shipments from the South American country at the weekend, with Hong Kong following suit and the European Union halting purchases from four Brazil-based facilities.

Still, four people involved in the deals said JBS and BRF would press ahead with the IPOs while seeking to shore up investor confidence with a campaign arguing the police probe misstated facts. JBS has no intention to delay the $1 billion IPO of JBS Foods in New York, which it hopes to finalize in May or June, one of the people said.

BRF continues to analyze selling a $1.5 billion stake in One Foods through a London IPO or a private placement, another person said.

Sovereign wealth funds are in talks with BRF over a private stake sale in One Foods. Bank of America Corp and Morgan Stanley & Co are advising BRF on the deal, Reuters reported last week.

Neither firm has seen a pushback from potential investors, said the people, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, because of the sensitivity of the matter. JBS and BRF, both based in São Paulo, declined to comment.

SEEKING CLARITY

The scandal has slashed about $2.2 billion worth of market value from JBS and BRF since Friday, according to Thomson Reuters data.

JBS shares tumbled nearly 11 percent on Friday, the day the scandal broke, the biggest daily plunge since Oct. 26, when a government agency vetoed a plan to move some operations outside Brazil.

BRF is near its lowest level in more than four years. This week, stocks of both firms have slowly recovered, suggesting Friday's selloff might have been overdone.

According to two New York-based and three London-based fund managers, investors are likely to seek more clarity about the facts surrounding "Operation Weak Flesh."

"The future prospects for any transaction like this, anywhere, will be unclear until all the parties involved remove the overhang on the matter," said Nick Field, who helps manage $26 billion in emerging market equities for London-based Schroder Investment Management.

Field, like the other fund managers, declined to say whether his firm might participate in either IPO.

Both companies and industry groups have launched public relations campaigns to repair the damage.

BRF rejected allegations by police that it mixed cardboard in its products and said there was no evidence it sold rotten meat. JBS said all exporting plants in Brazil followed strict international procedures.

CONFERENCE CALLS

JBS executives plan to hold conference calls with banks working on the JBS Foods IPO as early as this week, allowing them to verify information on the probe with third-party sources, the first person said.

While BRF is the more exposed to Brazil - with 55 percent of its sales and most of its poultry production there - none of its halal plants are suspended as part of the probe.

Analysts like Ronaldo Kasinsky of Santander Investment Securities remained wary, saying the ongoing investigation could deal a real setback to both deals. Investors could fret over valuation, undertake a closer look at operational and safety standards or stretch out due diligence procedures, he said.

Others like Carlos Laboy of HSBC Securities were confident the deals would go through.

The IPO of JBS Foods, which serves 350,000 clients around the world, could help parent company JBS morph from a meatpacker into a highly-valued, global food processing player.

JBS will name the banks underwriting the IPO in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, one of the people said.

For BRF, the One Foods deal should propel expansion into Asian Muslim nations. One Foods already controls 45 percent of the halal poultry market in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman.

Source: Reuters

UK Parliament suspends session as shots heard, police seen on London bridge

The United Kingdom's lower chamber temporarily suspended a debate session on Wednesday as shots were heard outside, the Houses of Parliament said.

Television images showed police activity on Westminster Bridge next to the clock tower housing Big Ben.

House of Commons leader David Lidington told lawmakers in the House of Commons that a "police officer has been stabbed," adding that an "alleged assailant was shot by armed police."

Television coverage from inside Parliament showed the debate being brought to a close.

The Westminster parliament was reportedly on lockdown as police deployed security personnel.

Source: EFE

Canada suspends Brazil meat imports from two plants in food scandal

Canada suspended meat imports from two Brazilian plants under investigation in a meatpacking scandal, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said on Tuesday, becoming the latest buyer to distance itself from the world's top beef and poultry exporter.

The food inspection agency said both plants were approved to export meat to Canada but neither had done so for six months.

Other nations, including China, Hong Kong, Mexico, Japan and Switzerland, have also curtailed meat imports from Brazil after a probe into corruption by health inspectors and the alleged sale of rotten products.

Source: Reuters

Brazil's president says pension reform will only apply to federal system

Brazil's President Michel Temer said on Tuesday a pension reform proposed by his administration would only apply to federal employees and would not address systems managed by state governments or large cities in the South American country.

In an apparent attempt to dilute an unpopular reform that is already provoking opposition, Temer said planned changes would only apply to those included in the federal pension system. He said that many state governments were already adjusting their own pension systems or were planning to do so.

"Pension reform is for federal employees," Temer told journalists in a statement, adding that the decision followed lobbying by politicians.

Brazil's center-right government has repeatedly said that reining in pension costs by imposing a minimum retirement age and increasing contributions is essential to tackling a budget deficit that hit 9 percent of gross domestic product last year.

Investor enthusiasm for Temer's business friendly reform agenda helped make its currency and stock market amongst the best performing in the world last year.

Raul Velloso, an economist and specialist in public finances, said the announcement by Temer would complicate the budgetary adjustment as governors would face a difficult task in pushing pension reforms past state assemblies.

"This decision will weaken the budgetary adjustment," Velloso said. "It's much easier for governors to simply say that the adjustment came from Brasilia and they have to implement it."

Source: Reuters

South Africa suspends some meat imports from Brazil

South Africa has suspended some meat imports from Brazil citing a scandal in the South American country's meat processing industry, the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said on Wednesday.

Police in Brazil have launched raids to investigate alleged bribes paid to conceal unsanitary conditions in Brazil's meatpacking facilities.

China and Canada also suspended some meat imports from Brazil on Wednesday.

Source: Reuters

Chinese supermarkets pull Brazil meat from shelves as food safety fears grow

The moves by Sun Art Retail Group (6808.HK), China's biggest hypermarket chain, and the Chinese arms of global retail giants Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) and Metro AG (MEOG.DE) come days after China temporarily suspended Brazilian meat imports.

Safety fears over Brazilian meat have grown since police accused inspectors in the world's biggest exporter of beef and poultry of taking bribes to allow sales of rotten and salmonella-tainted meats.

A spokeswoman for Sun Art Retail, which operates 400 Chinese hypermarkets, said on Wednesday the chain had removed beef supplied by top Brazilian exporters BRF SA (BRFS3.SA) and JBS SA (JBSS3.SA) from its shelves from Monday. Brazilian beef accounts for less than 10 percent of Sun Art's beef supply, she said.

Wal-Mart has also removed Brazilian meat products from its stores, a person familiar with the matter said. He declined to be quoted because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Germany's Metro has withdrawn Brazilian chicken legs and wings from its Chinese stores, said a manager, who declined to be named as he was not allowed to speak to media. The retailer, with 84 stores in China, does not sell Brazilian beef.

JD.com(JD.O), one of China's biggest online retailers, said in an emailed statement it had also removed all listings for imported Brazilian meat and is reviewing orders in process.

While Brazilian officials sought late on Tuesday to reassure consumers that the investigation had revealed only isolated incidents of sanitary problems, the reaction by Chinese retailers suggests that the probe could have far-reaching repercussions for the world's top meat exporter.

Chinese consumers appeared largely unconcerned or unaware of the scandal in Brazil, with few people commenting on the issue on the country's vibrant social media networks.

But the country has been hit by its own safety scandals in the past, making retailers sensitive to any potential risks.

"We removed the product already on March 20," said Sun Art's spokeswoman, noting it was ahead of the Chinese government's first official comment on the issue.

Brazil is the top supplier of beef to China, accounting for about 31 percent of its imports in the first half of last year. Much of it is used in canteens and foodservice and branded Brazilian beef is less prominent in supermarkets than Australian beef.

Importers are expected to wait a few more days before seeking out alternative supplies, which will likely be more costly than Brazil's.

"It's a 45-day lead-time to get any product here. What if they lift the ban by the end of the week?" said an industry source who declined to be identified.

Hong Kong, the second-biggest buyer of Brazilian meat last year, has also issued a ban on imports, following similar steps by Japan, Canada, Mexico and Switzerland.

Major Hong Kong supermarket chain PARKnSHOP said it had removed Brazilian pork, beef and chicken from shelves.

"To cater for the needs of customers, we will increase the supply of meat and poultry products from other countries," it said in a statement, without elaborating.

Source: Reuters

Brazil workers protest against pension reform, disrupt transport

Brazilian civil servants, rural workers and labor confederations staged nationwide demonstrations on Wednesday against President Michel Temer's pension reform plan, with hundreds of protesters occupying the premises of the finance ministry in the capital Brasilia.

Bus and subway services were partially disrupted in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the country's most populous cities. Drivers remained stranded because of small street demonstrations across several major avenues in São Paulo's eastern, southern and northern corners.

In Brasilia, more than 1,500 people from peasant and homeless groups held protests at the finance ministry, the Landless Peasant Movement said in a statement.

Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles said some damage occurred inside the ministry, without providing details.

"Several floors of the building were invaded because of this strike," Meirelles told reporters in Brasilia.

The demonstrations reflect the deep ideological divide among Brazilians as Temer seeks to pass the nation's most ambitious platform of economic reforms in two decades.

Leaders in Temer's 22-party alliance say capping pension benefits would be a key step to pull the country out of its worst recession on record.

Last week, Temer acknowledged that his administration would have to negotiate with Congress to win passage of the pension reform, which would establish a minimum age of retirement and scale back benefits for civil servants.

Still, senior lawmakers have said there is not much room for changes to Temer's original proposal if the country wants to reduce a record budget deficit that is putting the brakes on an economic recovery and hampering investor confidence.

Public transport workers in the cities of Recife, Curitiba and Belo Horizonte were also striking.

Source: Reuters

New robot sent into Fukushima reactor 1 to study radiation

The operator of Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant introduced a new robot into Reactor No. 1 Tuesday to measure radiation levels inside and evaluate its condition ahead of a future dismantling.

The self-propelled, remotely-operated robot is equipped with a video camera, thermometer as well as dosimeter - to measure radiation - among other sensors, said the Tokyo Electric Power Company in a statement.

Source: EFE

Putin disapproves of debating whether Russia should return to monarchy

The Russian president on Wednesday expressed his disapproval at the re-emerging debate in the country as to whether it should return to a monarchic system, a Kremlin spokesman said.

In the past few years, there have been several voices in Russia calling for the restoration of the monarchy, a century after the last Tsar, Nicholas II Romanov, abdicated in the face of revolution.

Source: EFE

Almost 6 million Adelie penguins live in East Antarctica

Just under six million Adelie penguins live along 5,000 kilometers of East Antarctica's coasts, according to a study published on Wednesday, 3.6 million more than previously estimated.

A team of researchers from Australia, France and Japan used aerial and ground surveys, automated cameras and tagging and resighting data to conduct a census of the penguins over multiple breeding seasons, according to a statement from the official Australian Antarctic Division (AAD).

Source: EFE

Massive 'Pharaoh' statue excavated in Egypt

The relics were found in the north-east of Cairo, close to the temple of Ramses II, also known as Ramses the Great, suggesting it may represent him.





Source: BBC

France to hike tax on cheap cigarettes, rolling tobacco in bid to save lives

The French government on Friday announced it would be hiking the tax on cheap cigarettes and rolling tobacco as part of a campaign to tackle deaths from smoking.

The move follows other initiatives aimed at addressing the figure of some 73,000 annual deaths stemming from the habit.

The tax increase would apply to packs of cigarettes that retail for less than 6.60 euro ($7), which make up about 40 percent of the brands on the market, according to a statement issued by Health Minister Marisol Touraine.

Taxation per packet would increase by 10-20 cents euro, while rolling tobacco costing less than 8 euro per 30 grams would also be affected by the initiative.

The cost of loose tobacco in France went up from 5.10 euro in 2004 to 9.85 euro in 2016.

Other anti-smoking measures adopted in the European nation include the introduction of "neutral" or plain cigarette packaging that is void of branding, proof-of-age checks for tobacco buyers, as well as the banning of flavored liquids for vaporizers.

Source: EFE

Brazil sees American Airlines investment as show of confidence

American Airlines Inc (AAL.O) plans to invest $100 million in an aircraft maintenance center in Sao Paulo, a Brazilian minister said on Thursday, touting it as a sign of confidence in Latin America's largest economy despite Brazil's recession and latest political turmoil.

Investment Partnerships Minister Wellington Moreira Franco said the U.S. airline would set up its first maintenance center in South America at Sao Paulo's Guarulhos international airport.

"An American Airlines executive told me today the company does not share the pessimistic view of Brazil in the media and believes Brazil's market will grow strongly," he told Reuters.

Moreira Franco said road shows in the United States, Britain, France and Japan revealed investor interest in Brazil's changing business climate since conservative President Michel Temer took power following the removal of impeached leftist Dilma Rousseff last year.

American Airlines spokesman Josh Freed said the No. 1 U.S. airline by passenger traffic has plans to invest in Brazil but that he could not immediately confirm the amount.

Moreira Franco said services to other airlines could eventually be offered at the maintenance center, but Freed said any work done in Sao Paulo would only be on American Airlines aircraft.

Private concessions are being decided according to market supply and demand and not by ideological criteria used by Rousseff that discouraged investors from building roads and railways or upgrading airports, Moreira Franco said in an interview.

The Temer government plans to end a 20 percent restriction on foreign stakes in Brazil's airlines and allow open participation by investors from other countries, though a bill must still be sent to Congress.

"You don't need a percentage for ownership stakes. This is a new reality," he said.

Four airports will be auctioned to private concessionaires on March 16, and the state company that manages Brazil's airports will not take part for the first time.

Temer launched a plan for further infrastructure concessions on Tuesday aiming to raise 45 billion reais ($14.43 billion) in investment to build and operate roads, port terminals, railways and power transmission lines.

The plan is at the heart of Temer's efforts to restore Brazil's credibility and pull Latin America's largest economy out of its worst-ever recession after the end of a commodities boom and a decade of rule by the leftist Workers Party.

Temer is betting on private investment to revive the economy despite political turbulence from a massive scandal involving bribery and political kickbacks on government contracts.

Moreira Franco, and the president himself, have been named in plea bargain testimony by defendants as beneficiaries of graft money, along with other cabinet ministers and leaders of his PMDB party. They deny any wrongdoing.

"That has nothing to do with the business world," he said. "Our only concerns are to lower inflation, interest rates, unemployment and restore growth."

Moreira Franco said the government's main challenge was to ensure a majority in Congress to push through a pensions reform bill that is key to bringing a widening budget deficit under control.

Source: Reuters

Brazil's Temer prepared to negotiate on pension reform

Brazilian President Michel Temer acknowledged on Friday that his government will have to negotiate with Congress to obtain passage of a bill to overhaul Brazil's costly pension system because it will face objections from politicians.

"We will have to dialogue," he said in an interview with radio broadcaster CBN. His government is worried that there is not much room for concessions in a proposal that could fail to help reduce a ballooning budget deficit if it is watered down.

Source: Reuters

Hate daylight saving time? You may have a point, researchers say

For most Americans, daylight saving time means only one thing: losing an hour's sleep. So what is the point?

This is actually a reasonable question, according to a growing body of scientific research.

Daylight saving time is the practice of moving clocks forward by one hour during summer months so that daylight lasts longer into evening. Most of North America and Europe follows the custom, while the majority of countries elsewhere do not.

When clocks in almost all of the United States spring forward by an hour at 2 a.m. on Sunday, it will likely prompt an increase in heart attacks and strokes, cause more car accidents and reduce worker productivity, according to studies. It will also fail to cut the nation's energy bill, contrary to what the experts once believed.

In December, a psychology journal published results showing that federal judges handed out sentences that were on average 5 percent longer the day after daylight saving time began than those given out one week before or after.

Disruptions, even minor ones, to human beings' sleep patterns can have outsized effects, according to researchers.

"Our study suggests that sudden, even small changes in sleep could have detrimental effects," Amneet Sandhu of the University of Colorado told Reuters in 2014 after his study of Michigan hospital data showed a 25 percent jump in heart attacks on the Monday after daylight saving time began.

Daylight saving time, which runs until the fall, was widely adopted during World War Two as an energy-saving measure. The rationale was that a later sunset meant people would spend fewer hours using lights inside their homes in the evening.

But studies have generally failed to show significant energy savings associated with the shift.

Plenty of people expressed frustration on social media on Saturday, as the prospect of losing an hour's sleep loomed large.

"Daylight Savings Time seems like a communist plot to get us all confused and tired and thinking the government wants to help us," wrote Twitter user Michael Farris Jr.

Abolishing daylight saving time – or conversely, extending it year-round – would require a law passed by U.S. Congress. States are allowed to opt out of daylight saving time, but all states are required to follow standard time from November to March.

Legislators in some states have tried unsuccessfully to pass laws abandoning daylight saving time, but Arizona and Hawaii are the only states that do not reset their clocks twice a year. For everyone else, Sunday morning will come just a little bit earlier than usual.

Source: Reuters

Brazil banks use M&A to resolve complex restructuring cases

Brazil's largest banks are increasingly demanding that companies put themselves up for sale as a condition to cut loan principal amounts, providing a jolt to an otherwise weak M&A climate in Latin America's largest economy.

Since the start of September, about a dozen Brazilian M&A deals have been related to restructurings, Thomson Reuters data showed. That represents about 15 percent of total Brazilian deals during the period. The percentage is higher among the largest lenders.

Over the same five-month period, eight of the 16 deals in which Banco Bradesco SA (BBDC4.SA), Brazil's top M&A lender, has acted as adviser involved restructuring-related asset sales.

The banks have been bruised by an unprecedented credit downturn that magnified Brazil's harshest-ever recession and the fallout from a corruption scandal that hit many large corporate borrowers.

Lenders have accepted losses north of 40 percent on the value of principal owed by some companies, from lingerie maker Scalina SA to sugar and ethanol mills Antonio Ruette Agroindustrial and Unialco SA Álcool e Açúcar, five people familiar with the cases said.

The sources, who spoke in recent weeks, requested anonymity in order to discuss matters freely.

They said drugstore chain Brasil Pharma SA (BPHA3.SA) could be the next candidate, as banks reduce the chain's 600 million-real ($190 million) debt by 40 percent and Grupo BTG Pactual (BBTG11.SA) transfers its ownership, two of the sources said.

Banks such as Banco Bradesco SA, state-controlled Banco do Brasil SA (BBAS3.SA), Itaú Unibanco Holding SA (ITUB4.SA) and Banco Santander Brasil SA (SANB11.SA) are agreeing to cut principal only if the companies' owners agree to transfer ownership to a third party, the people said. The third party could be a buyout firm or a strategic rival with better prospects of running it profitably.

With Scalina, banks agreed to slash the company's debt by 44 percent after rival Lupo bought the company from a group led by Carlyle Group LP (CG.O) funds, ending a dispute with lenders.

In Unialco's case, the company's assets were sold off as part of a restructuring in which creditors forgave around 85 percent of its debts.

And Antonio Ruette's creditors agreed to cut its debt by 40 percent, but only after a deal was reached in which Proterra Investment Partners, a fund backed by Cargill Inc [CARG.UL], took control of its mills from the ethanol company's eponymous founder.

DEFINITIVE SOLUTIONS

Brasil Pharma (BPHA3.SA) could find a solution to transfer the ownership within weeks, one of the sources said. Grupo BTG Pactual, BR Pharma and the creditors declined to comment.

Banks are demanding ownership changes in order to stem defaults and curb the large loan-loss provisioning that caused their profits to decline last year for the first time since 2009.

An initial phase of debt restructurings in 2015 had focused solely on extending terms of troubled loans. Bankers say they are hoping the latest deals will bring more definitive solutions.

After refinancing or setting aside provisions for about 140 billion reais of loans last year, lenders have grown wary of leaving existing shareholders in place, a practice that has tended to create a situation of "moral hazard," three of the people said..

The new strategy may be allowing more companies to avert bankruptcy filings, which decreased by 22 percent in the first two months of this year, according to figures from Experian Plc.

The ownership change deals can also create business for the banks in the form of M&A fees, although credit losses tend to overshadow that revenue by a large degree.

Stricter regulatory scrutiny stemming from the corruption scandal has contributed to a 55 percent drop in announced deals in Brazil so far this year, Thomson Reuters data showed, compounding the impact of the recession.

Source: Reuters

Surprise drop in Brazil inflation paves way for sharper rate cut

Brazil's inflation rate eased much more than expected in February to its lowest level since 2010 amid a deep recession, data showed on Friday, strengthening the case for a steeper interest rate cut by the central bank next month.

Consumer prices rose 4.76 percent in the 12 months through February, according to government statistics agency IBGE's IPCA index, slowing from an increase of 5.35 percent in January.

February's inflation came in below expectations of all 24 economists polled by Reuters. The index also undershot expectations for a seventh straight month.

For the first time since 2009, annual inflation is lower in Brazil than in emerging market peer Mexico, where price increases shot up to their highest rate in nearly seven years after the U.S. presidential election sparked a sharp drop in the Mexican currency.

Brazil's sudden inflation slowdown highlights the unprecedented severity of the country's two-year recession and is helping President Michel Temer's economic team to restore the credibility of fiscal and monetary policy to curb price rises.

"That's the kind of inflation rate that every central banker would like to see," said Marco Caruso, an economist with Banco Pine in São Paulo. "But it's a good outcome of something that is really bad: a very poor economic situation."

Yields on interest rate futures fell sharply on Friday as investors saw a greater likelihood that the central bank would cut its benchmark interest rate by 100 basis points in April.

The bank reduced the rate by 75 basis points at its last monetary policy meeting in February.

Most economists expect Brazil's inflation to fall below the official goal of 4.5 percent this year, which would likely lead the government to cut the target for 2019 and beyond, according to Reuters surveys.

The IPCA index rose 0.33 percent in February, the smallest increase for the month since 2000.

Source: Reuters

South Korean court throws president out of office, two die in protest

South Korea's Constitutional Court removed President Park Geun-hye from office on Friday over a graft scandal involving the country's conglomerates at a time of rising tensions with North Korea and China.

The ruling sparked protests from hundreds of her supporters, two of whom were killed in clashes with police outside the court, and a festive rally by those who had demanded her ouster who celebrated justice being served.

"We did it. We the citizens, the sovereign of this country, opened a new chapter in history," Lee Tae-ho, who leads a movement to oust Park that has held mostly peaceful rallies in downtown involving millions, told a large gathering in Seoul.

Park becomes South Korea's first democratically elected leader to be forced from office, capping months of paralysis and turmoil over the corruption scandal that also landed the head of the Samsung conglomerate in detention and on trial.

A snap presidential election will be held within 60 days.

She did not appear in court and a spokesman said she would not be making any comment. Nor would she leave the presidential Blue House residence on Friday.

"Park is not leaving the Blue House today," Blue House spokesman Kim Dong Jo told Reuters.

Park was stripped of her powers after parliament voted to impeach her but has remained in the president's official compound.

The court's acting chief judge, Lee Jung-mi, said Park had violated the constitution and law "throughout her term", and despite the objections of parliament and the media, she had concealed the truth and cracked down on critics.

Park has steadfastly denied any wrongdoing.

The ruling to uphold parliament's Dec. 9 vote to impeach her marks a dramatic fall from grace of South Korea's first woman president and daughter of Cold War military dictator Park Chung-hee. Both her parents were assassinated.

Park, 65, no longer has immunity and could now face criminal charges over bribery, extortion and abuse of power in connection with allegations of conspiring with her friend, Choi Soon-sil.

Graphic: Who's Who in Korea scandal here

MARKETS RISE

Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn was appointed acting president and will remain in that post until the election. He called on Park's supporters and opponents to put their differences aside to prevent deeper division.

"It is time to accept, and close the conflict and confrontation we have suffered," Hwang said in a televised speech.

A liberal presidential candidate, Moon Jae-in, is leading in opinion polls to succeed Park, with 32 percent in one released on Friday. Hwang, who has not said whether he will seek the presidency, leads among conservatives, none of whom has more than single-digit poll ratings.

"Given Park's spectacular demise and disarray among conservatives, the presidential contest in May is the liberals' to lose," said Yonsei University professor John Delury.

Relations with China and the United States could dominate the coming presidential campaign, after South Korea this month deployed the U.S. THAAD missile defense system in response to North Korea's stepped up missile and nuclear tests.

Beijing has vigorously protested against the deployment, fearing its radar could see into its missile deployments. China has curbed travel to South Korea and targeted Korean companies operating in the mainland, prompting retaliatory measures from Seoul.

The Seoul market's benchmark KOSPI index .KS11 and the won currency KRW= rose after the ruling.

The prospect of a new president in the first half of this year instead of prolonged uncertainty would buoy domestic demand as well as the markets, said Trinh Nguyen, senior economist at Natixis in Hong Kong.

"The hope is that this will allow the country to have a new leader that can address long-standing challenges such as labor market reforms and escalated geopolitical tensions," he said.

Park was accused of colluding with her friend, Choi, and a former presidential aide, both of whom have been on trial, to pressure big businesses to donate to two foundations set up to back her policy initiatives.

The court said Park had "completely hidden the fact of (Choi's) interference with state affairs".

Park was also accused of soliciting bribes from the head of the Samsung Group for government favors, including backing a merger of two Samsung affiliates in 2015 that was seen as supporting family succession and control over the country's largest "chaebol" or conglomerate.

Samsung Group leader Jay Y. Lee has been accused of bribery and embezzlement in connection with the scandal and is in detention. His trial began on Thursday.

He and Samsung have denied wrongdoing.

'COMMON CRIMINAL'

The scandal and verdict have exposed fault lines in a country long divided by Cold War politics.

While Park's conservative supporters clashed with police outside the court, elsewhere most people welcomed her ouster. A recent poll showed more than 70 percent supported her impeachment.

Hundreds of thousands of people have for months been gathering at peaceful rallies in Seoul every weekend to call for her to step down.

On Friday, hundreds of Park's supporters, many of them elderly, tried to break through police barricades at the courthouse. Police said one 72-year-old man was taken to hospital with a head injury and died. The circumstances of the second death were being investigated.

Six people were injured, protest organizers said.

Police blocked the main thoroughfare running through downtown Seoul in anticipation of bigger protests.

Park will be making a tragic and untimely departure from the Blue House for the second time in her life.

In 1979, having served as acting first lady after her mother was killed by a bullet meant for her father, she and her two siblings left the presidential compound after their father was killed.

This time, she could end up in jail.

Prosecutors have named Park as an accomplice in two court cases linked to the scandal, suggesting she is likely to be investigated.

North Korean state media wasted little time labeling Park a criminal.

"She had one more year left as 'president' but, now she's been ousted, she will be investigated as a common criminal," the North's state KCNA news agency said shortly after the court decision.

Source: Reuters

Commodities mark worst week in months amid glut, China drag

Global commodities from oil to metals and grains were on course to post their steepest weekly declines in months on Friday as the recent rallies in the asset class showed signs of fatigue, pressured by a glut and tepid demand from top consumer China.

Gold, which investors typically run to when they flee risky assets, was not spared from this week's selloff as the metal dropped below the critical $1,200 an ounce support amid a looming U.S. interest rate hike.

The Thomson Reuters CRB index, a measure of 19 commodities, is headed for its biggest weekly fall since November.

China's decision on Sunday to cut its economic growth target this year to around 6.5 percent "came across as slightly negative for commodities," said Vishnu Varathan, senior economist at Mizuho Bank.

"But the underlying tone there is there should be some support on the way down because China hasn't really relinquished its desire for growth stability either," said Varathan."Commodities might take a step back, a bit of a breather from the rally last year, but the hopes are tilted to the upside."

With little pull from China, the market focus shifted back to the surplus of raw materials, dragging down commodities after last year's recovery.

U.S. crude oil, which fell below $50 a barrel on Thursday for the first time since mid-December, has lost nearly 7 percent so far this week, the most since November. It was up 0.8 percent at $49.68 by 0916 GMT.

Brent crude, last up 0.7 percent at $52.55 a barrel, has fallen 6 percent for the week, also the biggest since November.

"Steep price falls in the last two days amid building U.S. inventories show that the market remains concerned about the supply-demand balance," NAB Group Economics said in a note. [O/R]

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange, trading near a two-month low at $5,707 a tonne, has declined 3.5 percent this week, heading for its largest such drop since August. [MET/L]

Stocks at LME warehouses have risen to the highest since December amid worries over Asian demand.

Iron ore, at a one-month trough below $87 a tonne, was headed for its worst week since mid-November, amid a growing mountain of stocks at Chinese ports - the highest since at least 2004 at around 130 million tonnes.

Iron ore rallied with steel this year despite rising port stocks. But as steel prices pulled back, concerns emerged over the expanding inventory of the steelmaking ingredient that could increase further. [IRONORE/]

In agriculture, Chicago soybean futures were poised for their biggest weekly loss since December on forecasts for a record Brazilian crop and corn was eyeing its biggest weekly decline since August. [GRA/]

A stronger dollar pulled down spot gold to its weakest since Jan. 31 ahead of key U.S. jobs data that may reinforce expectations for a rate increase next week when Federal Reserve policymakers meet. [GOL/]

The precious metal has dropped 3 percent this week, the most since November.

"Gold will be under pressure going into the FOMC meeting and hover around the $1,185-$1,190 level," said Ronald Leung, chief dealer at Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong Kong.

Source: Reuters

Bets on gold hold ground even as Fed rate hike looms large

While an imminent hike in U.S. interest rates is putting a downdraft on gold prices, bullion's allure as a safe haven is likely to limit the downside, traders and analysts say, owing to uncertainties in the United States and Europe.

Gold slumped to a 10-month low in mid-December after rates were increased for the first time in a year, but gold investors don't appear to be as jittery ahead of the next Fed meeting and a near-certain rate rise on March 14-15.

The previous slide came also as equity investors cheered the election of U.S. President Donald Trump, but gold has since recovered about 7 percent on a lack of clarity on Trump's policies and worries about upcoming elections in Europe.

"The expectations of rate hikes are already priced into gold unless the expectations grow to four hikes, which we think is unwarranted," said analyst Dominic Schnider of UBS Wealth Management in Hong Kong.

"With a more hawkish Fed, there is no incentive to chase gold. But, the disappointment potential on President Donald Trump is very high. The Congress will not give what he wants."

Higher interest rates make it less attractive to hold non-interest bearing gold, while a firmer U.S. dollar also makes gold more expensive for buyers in other currencies.

Gold has fallen about 5 percent from a three-month peak on Feb. 24 to $1,198 an ounce, but traders say the risks of a sharp technical fall have eased and expect physical demand to emerge in a band from $1,150 to $1,200 an ounce.

"From the fund management industry, some people believe in this political uncertainty trend, and they are buyers of gold," said Hans Brandt, commodity fund manager at Swisscanto Invest.

"Some believe economic growth is picking up, the dollar is getting stronger over the next 3-6 months. Those people are sellers at this level."

LONG POSITIONS RISE

Speculative long positions held by hedge funds and money managers in COMEX gold have nearly tripled this year, suggesting a fresh round of allocations into gold in 2017.

However, the 121,720 lots at Feb. 28 were still less than half of the 286,921 contracts held in July 2016, when speculative fever was at its peak as gold prices hit over 2-year highs at $1,374.91 an ounce.

This lower amassed speculator position reduces the threat of a sharp drop in prices should a flood of speculative positions be unwound, said Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch.

Increasing inflation across a number of major economies will also likely dampen appetite for fixed income investments and support gold, said UBS's Schnider.

"There is interest in physical gold if prices drop below $1,200. People will definitely see value below $1,200 and that will help stabilize the market. So far, ETFs also have looked resilient," Schnider said.

Physical gold holdings in exchange-traded funds have fallen since last week, partly because of a stronger dollar, but at 54.45 million ounces are still nearly 3 percent higher than at the start of February. Holdings are also roughly 6 million ounces or 13 percent above where they were in early March 2016.

Meanwhile, gold is expected to be boosted by political risks stemming from Britain's exit from the EU and upcoming contentious elections elsewhere in Europe.

"The impact of a Fed rate hike will be offset as we go into the French elections. This year, we also have German, Dutch and Italian elections and all have the possibility of surprises," INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir said.

"We saw very good physical demand when prices came near $1,150. Especially, the German public is very keen on buying. Nobody is talking about interest rates there," said Michael Kempinski, Managing Director, Degussa Precious Metals Asia Pte. Ltd.

"People in Europe face uncertainty every day ... when prices come down, they buy more."

Source: Reuters

Chile launches first LatAm study on marijuana benefits for cancer patients

The Daya Foundation and Knopf Laboratories, two Chilean institutions specializing in the therapeutic use of marijuana, presented Tuesday their joint project for the first Latin American study on the use of medical marijuana to ease the pain of breast and lung cancer.

"The clinical trial is designed to test the efficacy and security of a cannabis-based pharmaceutical for patients with breast or lung cancer. It is a very relevant study because it means Chile will be leading the way to the democratization of medical marijuana," Ana Maria Gazmuri, president of the Daya Foundation, told EFE.

Source: EFE

China to launch lunar space probe before year's end

China announced plans on Tuesday to launch a space probe to bring back samples from the moon before the end of the year, in what state media cast as competition to U.S. President Donald Trump's ambitions to revitalize U.S. space exploration.

The Chang'e-5 lunar probe is undergoing a final round of tests and is expected to be on standby for launch from August, the official People's Daily said, citing the China National Space Administration.

The launch will involve new challenges for China in sample collection, taking off from the moon and high-speed reentry to the Earth's atmosphere, making it "one of China's most complicated and difficult space missions", Hu Hao, an official from China's Lunar Exploration Programme, told the paper.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for China to become a global power in space exploration.

"Not long ago, the United States' Trump Administration revealed an ambition to return to the moon. Our country also announced a series of deep space exploration plans," said the official Science and Technology Daily.

"The moon is the first stop for humanity's march toward deep space," the paper said.

In February, the Trump administration asked the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to look into the possibility of manning a heavy-lift rocket mission, expected to be launched in 2018, perhaps setting the stage for a human return to the moon.

China's new probe is the latest step in its lunar exploration program. In 2013, it completed its first lunar "soft landing" since 1976 with the Chang'e-3 craft and its Jade Rabbit rover.

China is aiming to send a probe to the dark side of the moon by 2018, the first ever such trip, and hopes to put astronauts on the moon by 2036.

Source: Reuters

Brazil launches database to fight illegal Amazon logging

Brazil's federal environmental agency, Ibama, launched on Tuesday a centralized database to track timber from source to sale, a vital step in the fight against illegal logging in the Amazon.

The system, known as Sinaflor, allows individual trees to be electronically tagged and monitored as they are cut down and pass through the supply chain, with regulators able to check the database via their cell phones while on patrol.

With built-in satellite mapping, timber being sold as legal can be checked against the exact area of licensed commercial production it is claimed to originate from.

The system marks a step change from the current system, which environmentalists criticize as being open to fraud and human error as databases are isolated, poorly managed and cannot be easily accessed to verify documentation attached to timber.

"The new system offers a much more comprehensive process of control," Suely Araújo, president of Ibama, said in an interview in her office in Brasilia. "What's not in Sinaflor will be illegal timber."

The system is the result of four years of work and was envisioned under the forest code passed into law in 2012, which gave the federal government power to create and manage a national system to regulate the supply chain of timber.

Illegal logging is one of the greatest threats to the preservation of the Amazon. In the year until July 2016, Amazonian rainforest six times the size of Los Angeles was cut down.

That was the second rise in two years, ending a 10-year period in which deforestation was dramatically reduced. Brazil's Environment Ministry, under which Ibama falls, has vowed to reverse the trend.

Sinaflor has already been piloted in the state of Roraima and is being introduced this week in Rondonia. The states are legally obliged to use the system, and Araújo expects to have it up and running across the country by the end of the year.

"When we manage to implement it in the whole country, I think it will be a step change in terms of control," Araújo said.

Source: Reuters

Brazil's Temer launches 45 billion reais infrastructure concession plan

Brazil's President Michel Temer launched an infrastructure concessions program on Tuesday that he said should raise 45 billion reais ($14.43 billion) in investment in building and operating roads, port terminals, railways and power transmission lines.

Temer said the program was key to restoring an attractive business environment as Brazil struggles to emerge from its worst-ever recession.

"There will be 45 billion reais in new investment in the energy, transport and sanitation sectors which will lead to the creation of 200,000 new direct and indirect jobs," Temer said.

Inaugurating a meeting of the Programme for Partnerships and Investments (PPI), which will oversee the tendering of the concessions, Temer said 55 projects would be launched with private-sector partners.

"We are leaving behind a deep recession and entering in a phase of prosperity where private investment will be decisive," said the president, who has said his top priority is curbing unemployment running above 12 percent.

Data on Tuesday showed a surprise acceleration in Brazil's deep economic downturn in the final quarter of 2016, stepping up pressure on President Michel Temer and the central bank to do more to promote growth.

The economy showed a steeper-than-expected decline of 0.9 percent in the fourth quarter, following a 0.7 percent drop in the previous three months.

Wellington Moreira Franco, the minister coordinating the PPI, said the federal government would propose 35 concessions in energy transmission.

The government said in a statement it would also launch the early renovation of five railway concessions in return for commitments on investment.

The government said it would launch concessions for new areas in the ports of Santana, Itaqui and Paranagua and extend contracts in Santos, Vila do Conde and Niteroi.

With its budget squeezed by the deep recession, Temer's government is betting that an increase in private investment can help revive the economy despite political turbulence caused by a sweeping anti-corruption investigation.

Source: Reuters

China's February crude oil imports hit second highest on record

China's crude oil imports rose to the second-highest level on record in February, as strong demand from independent "teapot" refiners continues to drive growth.

February's imports came in at 31.78 million tonnes or 8.286 million barrels per day, up 3.5 percent on a year ago, Chinese customs data showed on Wednesday.

Daily shipments were only behind December's record 8.57 million bpd, but up on 8.01 million bpd in January.

"Teapots have been the main driver of strong oil imports in January and February. Chinese crude oil buying wrapped up 2016 with a record and the momentum will continue this year as we expect private refiners to keep high run rates," said Li Yan, an analyst with oil consultancy Zibo Longzhong information Group.

Imports are expected to ease from March when several major plants begin scheduled maintenance.

One of China's largest refineries, PetroChina's Dalian refinery, will shut for 45-60 days starting at the end of the first quarter.

China's refined fuel products exports in February rose to 4.26 million tonnes from 3.04 million tonnes in January, the customs data showed.

Source: Reuters

Hundreds offer their cars to drive migrants from Greece to rest of Europe

Hundreds of people gathered in Brussels on Monday to demand migrants trapped in Greece be relocated to the rest of Europe as they had been promised, and many offered to drive them with their own cars.

In a protest organized by Amnesty International, cars drove beside the European Commission and Council headquarters waving flags that read "Let's bring them here" and showing pictures of migrants on the passenger seat windows.

Source: EFE

Colombian gov't blames FARC for delays in building disarmament camps

The delays in completing the 26 disarmament camps for the FARC are due to several "commanders not allowing progress to be made," Colombian High Commissioner for Peace Sergio Jaramillo said Monday.

Source: EFE

Scientists: Antarctica regulates Earth's climate like a thermostat

Antarctica is an important regulator of the planet's climate, capable of influencing - scientists say - things as distant as the blooming of cherry trees in Japan or how clear the skies are over Chile's Atacama Desert.

"What happens in Antarctica will determine the climate in other regions very far from this remote continent," scientist Edgardo Vega told EFE.

Source: EFE

North Korea fires four ballistic missiles into sea, angering Japan and South

North Korea fired four ballistic missiles into the sea off Japan's northwest on Monday, angering South Korea and Japan, days after it promised retaliation over U.S.-South Korea military drills it sees as a preparation for war.

South Korea's military said the missiles were unlikely to have been intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), which can reach the United States. The missiles flew on average 1,000 km (620 miles) and reached a height of 260 km (160 miles).

Some of the missiles landed in waters as close as 300 km (190 miles) from Japan's northwest coast, Japan's Defence Minister Tomomi Inada said in Tokyo.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said "strong protests" had been lodged with nuclear-armed North Korea, which has carried out a series of nuclear and missile tests in defiance of U.N. resolutions.

"The launches are clearly in violation of Security Council resolutions. It is an extremely dangerous action," Abe told parliament.

South Korea's acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn condemned the launches as a direct challenge to the international community and said Seoul would swiftly deploy a U.S. anti-missile defense system despite angry objections from China.

The missiles were launched from the Tongchang-ri region near the reclusive North's border with China, South Korean military spokesman Roh Jae-cheon told a briefing. It was too early to say what the relatively low altitude indicated about the types of missiles, he said.

Joshua Pollack, editor of the U.S.-based Non-Proliferation Review, said it did not appear the North had launched an ICBM.

"It sounds like a field exercise involving deployed missiles, probably ones we've seen before," Pollack said.

U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, also told Reuters there were no indications so far that North Korea had tested an ICBM.

The U.S. military said it detected and tracked what it assessed was a North Korean missile launch, but it did not pose a threat to North America.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a daily news briefing that China, which is holding its annual meeting of the National People's Congress, had noted North Korea's latest action.

"All sides should exercise restraint and not do anything to irritate each other to worsen regional tensions," Geng said, referring to both the missile launch and U.S.-South Korean military exercises.

JOINT DRILLS

North Korea had threatened to take "strong retaliatory measures" after South Korea and the United States began annual joint military drills on Wednesday that test their defensive readiness against possible aggression from the North.

North Korea criticizes the annual drills and has previously conducted missile launches to coincide with the exercises.

Last year, North Korea fired a long-range rocket from Tongchang-ri that put an object into orbit. That launch was condemned by the United Nations for violating resolutions that ban the use of ballistic missile technology.

North Korea test-fired a new type of missile into the sea early last month, and has said it would continue to launch new strategic weapons.

Last month's test was the first since the election of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has vowed to rein in North Korea and its young leader, Kim Jong Un.

Trump's national security deputies have reviewed in recent meetings a range of options to counter the North's missile threat, the New York Times reported. Options include direct missile strikes on the North's launch sites and the possibility of reintroducing nuclear weapons to the South, the Times said.

Those options would soon be presented to Trump and his top national security aides, the report said, quoting U.S. administration officials.

The United States withdrew nuclear weapons from South Korea in 1991 before the rival Koreas signed a declaration on denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. North Korea has since walked away from the agreement, citing the threat of invasion by the United States.

"The claim that we should redeploy nuclear weapons here, 20 years after they were withdrawn, is total nonsense," said Woo Sang-ho, floor leader of South Korea’s main opposition Democratic Party.

"I am formally asking the United States not to bring this issue up for consideration," Woo said in a party meeting.

North Korea conducted its fifth and most powerful nuclear test last September, following what the United States said was an "unprecedented" level of activity in its banned nuclear and missile programs.

State media said after that test Pyongyang had used a nuclear warhead small enough to mount on a ballistic missile.

The United States has about 28,500 troops and equipment stationed in the South, and plans to roll out the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile defense system by the end of the year.

Japan also plans to reinforce its ballistic missile defenses and is considering buying either THAAD or building a ground-based version of the Aegis system that is currently deployed on ships in the Sea of Japan.

Source: Reuters

NASA Mars satellite shifts course to avoid hitting planet's moon

A NASA science satellite orbiting Mars was forced to make a rare evasive maneuver to avoid a collision next week with one of the planet's two small moons, the U.S. space agency said on Thursday.

Flight controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, commanded the MAVEN spacecraft, which is studying Mars' vanishing atmosphere, to fire up its engine on Tuesday to boost its speed by about 1.3 feet per second (0.4 meters per second).

The acceleration was necessary to slightly shift MAVEN's orbit and steer the satellite clear of the Martian moon Phobos, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said in a statement.

Without the tweak, MAVEN and the small, lumpy moon would have reached the same point in space within seven seconds of one another next Monday, March 6. In its new orbit, MAVEN will miss Phobos by about 2-1/2 minutes, NASA said.

MAVEN is in an egg-shaped orbit that regularly crosses the paths of other science satellites and of Phobos, which circles just 6,000 miles (9,656 km) above the Martian surface, closer than any other known moon to a planet in the solar system. At that distance, Phobos whips around Mars three times a day.

Flight controllers regularly monitor MAVEN's path for potential collisions. Tuesday's evasive action was the first time MAVEN had to dodge the potato-shaped Phobos, which measures about 10 by 14 miles by 11 miles (16 by 22.5 by 18 km).

MAVEN, short for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, reached the red planet in September 2014.

Source: Reuters

Turkey's competition board opens investigation into Google

Turkey's Competition Board said on Monday it had opened an investigation to determine whether Google had violated the country's competition law.

In a statement on its website, the authority said the probe aimed to determine whether Google's contracts with equipment producers, in addition to its mobile communications systems, applications, and provision of services, had violated the law.

The competition authority had previously concluded that opening an investigation into the company was not necessary, but decided to change its decision after a second evaluation.

Source: Reuters

As oil industry perks up, worries grow over future staffing

Doug Lucas stood outside a Houston energy conference early one morning last month handing out resumes and hoping to catch the eye of oil executives with a hand-written sign advertising "Petroleum Eng. Hungry for job interview."

Cut from oilfield services firm Halliburton Co (HAL.N) in 2015, the 26-year-old temporarily turned to lawn care and cable-TV sales jobs while finishing a master's degree in petroleum engineering at the University of Southern California.

Despite relying on a depression-era sign for introductions, he is hopeful demand for petroleum professionals will come back.

"It's way better now than it was six or eight months ago," he said optimistically, as he solicited business cards from convention goers.

After a rout that began in 2014 due to a worldwide glut of oil in part caused by a U.S. shale boom, crude prices CLc1 have rebounded from 13-year lows hit a year ago and have held above $50 a barrel since the start of the year when major oil producers curbed output as part of a global deal. [O/R]

The higher prices have spurred an uptick in drilling activity as energy companies boost spending plans to take advantage of the crude price recovery. [RIG/U]

However, massive cuts that cost some 440,000 jobs globally at energy companies in the last two years have left veteran workers and skilled job-candidates without a clear future in oil and gas.

Unable to find work in their chosen field, some have turned their sights to technology or other industries, adding a note of uncertainty to next week's CERAWeek industry conference in Houston.

The outflow of experienced workers and a lack of hiring as oil companies drive to become more efficient could put future production growth in jeopardy, should a nascent upturn in the industry accelerate, say experts. In western Canada, companies resuming production of crude oil are struggling to rehire rig crews following job and pay cuts.

A University of Houston global survey of laid off oil workers found that 25 percent had already moved to another industry and another 55 percent were considering it. Only 13 percent of those polled in late 2016 had found energy jobs.

"A good number of people are 'lost' to other industries," said Christiane Spitzmueller, the study's principal investigator. "This will translate into high recruitment and training costs for new hires."

BRIGHTER TIMES AHEAD

The combined U.S. and Canadian rig counts, which can be an indicator of the health of the industry, jumped to 1,091 by Friday from 618 a year ago, a sign of the upturn in drilling in North America.

In western Canada, where many more rigs are working this year than last, drillers say a lack of experienced employees could slow their work later this year - or force them to pay higher salaries to lure workers back.

Dan Block, chief executive of Edmonton-based Jomax Drilling (1988) Ltd, said contractors he once employed took jobs in other industries, including construction.

"We are scrambling to bring people back," Block said.

Halliburton, an oil services firm that had about 50,000 employees at the end of 2016, down from more than 80,000 two years earlier, is now holding job fairs in regions where there is an uptick in drilling activity, such as Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Ohio, the company said.

"We're seeing a good balance of both experienced and entry level candidates," said spokeswoman Emily Mir, noting that there is strong applicant interest in open positions in the Permian Basin - one of the hottest drilling areas in the United States due to its favorable economics.

The U.S. oil and gas industry will need to fill 1.9 million new jobs through 2035, according to consultancy IHS Markit (INFO.O).

But filling those jobs could prove a challenge, management consultancy KCA said in study published in September.

"A rapid run-up is going to be a really difficult spot for the industry, versus a slow ramp up where you can start to lure people back over time," said David Skinner, KCA's chief executive.

The study by KCA, Pink Petro and Glexnet, which polled 1,000 laid off and working energy professionals, found that 45 percent of executives or board members said they were ready to seek other job options, retire or are unsure what they will do post-downturn.

Karsten Thompson, petroleum engineering department chair at Louisiana State University (LSU), said the loss of experienced executives will hurt the training of professional staff.

"Students will miss out on mentorship," he said in an interview.

If experienced workers are less inclined to stay through another economic cycle, younger workers may already be placing bets on other careers. Before oil prices crashed, the University of Texas placed more than 90 percent of students who majored in petroleum engineering into oil and gas jobs. In 2015 and 2016, that number fell by around a quarter.

LSU said its May 2016 engineering graduates reported fewer than 50 percent had found jobs, down from around 63 percent in 2013.

"In the past, for students with petroleum engineering jobs who couldn't find full time work, there were always opportunities to work offshore as a roustabout," said Trey Truitt, Associate Director for Employment Services at LSU.

"In this economy, those jobs haven't been available either."

TECHNOLOGY BECKONS

Despite a potential shortage of engineers, companies could still grow their businesses using existing staff augmented with newer technology and contract labor, said KCA.

Automation and technologies that require more software know-how are changing the skills needed by industry workers.

"Someone who majors in petroleum engineering with a minor in computer science, that might be the ideal engineer going forward," said John Graves, of energy consultancy Graves & Co.

Viet Pham, 23, a 2015 graduate from University of Texas at Austin's Petroleum Engineering program said if he could do it all over again, he would have majored in mechanical engineering or computer science.

Pham, who has been working at a retailer, is taking engineering courses at a community college to expand industry contacts and improve his professional job prospects.

"Petroleum is volatile," he said. "It's great when it works."

Source: Reuters

Struggling to smelt, Venezuela state-run steelmaker grows sunflowers, crops

Workers at Venezuelan steelmaker Sidor are planting sunflowers and vegetables on company premises to ease a national food deficit as steel output has almost ground to a halt nine years after the company was taken over by the government.

The company says the crops are meant to boost food supply in Venezuela, which suffers from chronic Soviet-style product shortages as a result of an unraveling socialist economic system that has been exacerbated by low oil prices.

Late socialist leader Hugo Chavez nationalized Sidor in 2008. Since then, chronic labor disputes and deterioration of installations have decimated production and left a swollen payroll of employees twiddling their thumbs on the job.

At the behest of their bosses, workers have planted sunflowers, sorghum and vegetables on about 100 acres at the mill. The sunflowers have grown tall after about four months, but sorghum and vegetables have not grown as expected, which workers suspect is a result of the soil not being apt for such crops.

"The only harvest we have here is 100 workers looking for jobs at the Sidor gate in front of sunflowers grown by an industry that is supposed to produce steel," said Sidor employee Leonel Grisett.

Sidor's President Justo Noguera did not respond to requests for comment.

President Nicolas Maduro says his government is a victim of an "economic war" led by his adversaries. Critics counter that Venezuela suffers from unsustainable policies that have left public and private companies unable to function.

Sidor workers say the agricultural venture is a reflection of company leadership being distracted by activities that are not a core part of Sidor's mission.

The company has also built an equine-assisted therapy center, in which special-needs kids interact with horses.

"The workers are just sitting here, staring at one another," said Carlos Ramirez, who has worked at Sidor for 31 years. "I've never seen anything like this. People are very worried."

Sidor has not given official production figures in a year. But workers say liquid steel output in January signals that output this year will reach just 3 percent of its installed capacity, the lowest since it opened in 1963.

Source: Reuters

Trump critic named Brazil's foreign minister

Aloysio Nunes, a pro-business senator and blunt critic of U.S. President Donald Trump, was named Brazilian foreign minister on Thursday.

President Michel Temer picked Nunes, of the center-right PSDB party, to succeed José Serra who resigned last week citing health reasons.

A leftist guerrilla when a student who fought against Brazil's military dictatorship in the late 1960s, Nunes is today a strong advocate of free trade and private initiative.

He promoted closer ties to the United States as chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, but his initial response to the election of Trump last year was very negative.

"Trump is the Republican Party on a drunken binge. He represents the worst of his party, the most uncontrolled and inflamed side," Nunes tweeted the day after the Nov. 8 vote.

Nunes, 71, is expected to follow Serra's lead in moving away from a foreign policy of alignment with left-wing governments in Latin America followed by the Workers Party that was ousted from power with the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff last year.

"At this moment, in which Brazil is beginning to emerge from a deep crisis, foreign policy can make a big contribution in the economy, in foreign trade, in attracting investments to create more jobs," he said in a video on his Facebook page.

Nunes said he will work to revive the four-nation Mercosul trade bloc of South America by drawing it closer to the Pacific Alliance countries and concluding a trade deal with the European Union.

Source: Reuters

Carnival party over, Brazil returns to reality of political crisis

Carnival revelers were still dancing in the streets of Brazilian cities on Wednesday but for President Michel Temer's government it was back to the reality of mounting corruption allegations that threaten its survival.

"Out with Temer" was a frequent chant against the unpopular president during the annual celebrations across a country hit by record unemployment and fed up with its political leaders.

On Wednesday afternoon the jailed former CEO of Brazil's biggest engineering group, Marcelo Odebrecht, was questioned by a judge investigating donations made to Temer's 2014 campaign, when he was the running mate for leftist leader Dilma Rousseff, who was impeached last year.

A source with access to Odebrecht's deposition said he confirmed an illegal payment to Rousseff's campaign manager Joao Santana, but added that he could not say if the then-president or her running mate knew about it.

Odebrecht said former finance minister Guido Mantega negotiated under-the-table donations for the 2014 campaign that totaled 300 million reais, but he denied they were bribes to obtain government contracts, the source said.

Odebrecht, who is seeking leniency to lower a 19-year sentence for corruption and money-laundering, said Temer did not directly request a donation at a dinner in 2014, though the matter was discussed in a general way.

The massive investigation into bribery and political kickbacks, dubbed Operation Car Wash, threatens to bring down members of Temer's inner circle and has generated political uncertainty that is undermining business confidence and prolonging Brazil's two-year recession.

Electoral court judge Herman Benjamin is seeking to determine if a 10 million reais ($3.2 million) contribution allegedly sought by Temer was paid from graft money, as claimed by another Odebrecht executive in plea bargain testimony.

Temer has said the donation was legal and duly registered, but Benjamin could recommend annulling the Rousseff-Temer ticket, which would lead to the president's removal and election of a new leader by Congress if it is upheld by the full court.

The graft scandal endangers Temer's efforts to push unpopular austerity reforms through Congress aimed at curbing a growing budget deficit that cost Brazil its investment grade credit rating in 2015.

"The President's biggest challenge now is to prevent the Car Wash investigation paralyzing his reform agenda in Congress," a Temer aide told Reuters, requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the government's worries.

The crisis will deepen in the next few weeks when Brazil's top prosecutor Rodrigo Janot will ask the Supreme Court to make public plea bargain statements of 77 Odebrecht executives who are expected to name up to one-third of Brazil's federal lawmakers for taking kickbacks.

Among the politicians at risk is Temer's chief of staff, Eliseu Padilha, who is on medical leave after prostate surgery but will have to face questions about a package of 1 million reais he allegedly requested as part an undeclared contribution from Odebrecht.

A lawyer and longtime friend of Temer's, José Yunes, has approached prosecutors to confirm the package was handed over at his office for Padilha but that he had no idea that it contained cash, leaving the chief of staff in a difficult position.

Source: Reuters

River in tiny country of Andorra dyed bright green during investigation

Inhabitants of the microstate of Andorra on the mountainous Spanish-French borders spent much of Thursday perturbed as the color of one of their rivers turned emerald green.

The government of Andorra said in a statement that the Valira river had been stained on purpose with a harmless dye as part of an investigation into how the source of a regional spring was contaminated a year ago, leading to the closure of a bottling plant.

Source: EFE

Consumer prices rise in Japan for the first time in 13 months

Japan's consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.1 percent in January compared to the same month in 2016, representing the first increase in 13 months thanks to the recovery of crude oil prices, the government said Friday.

The rise of the index, which excludes fresh food due to its excessive volatility, shows a trend change in line with the Bank of Japan's ambitious program to break the long deflationary cycle of the world's third largest economy.

Source: EFE

Belgium investigating video threatening terror attack on Antwerp station

Belgium's coordinating body for threat analysis is investigating a video threatening a terror attack at the main station in the northern city of Antwerp, a government spokesperson told EFE on Friday.

The Coordinating Body for Threat Analysis (OCAM) has informed Antwerp city police about the video and its content, Interior Ministry crisis center spokesperson Benoit Ramacker said.

"There is currently an analysis underway. We're awaiting the evaluation from OCAM to see if special measures need to be taken," said Ramacker.

The video, which lasts less than one minute, was spread by members of the Islamic State terror organization on social media, Belgian media reported.

The video showed scenes filmed by someone walking into the station, accompanied by the words "we're here" and "we're going to attack," according to Belgian news agency Belga.

The Interior Ministry said it was "too soon" to be able to say if the footage was linked to the IS and it was awaiting the results of an investigation to determine which measures, if any, needed to be taken.

City police told Belga that they were taking the video "very seriously" and had stepped up security at the station pending the results of the investigation.

In recent years, Belgian authorities have analyzed other videos targeting the country, such as footage released by the Islamist terror organization "Sharia4Belgium" showing the iconic Atomium in Brussels.

In March last year, Belgium became the target of two terror attacks, one against the Brussels-Zaventem international airport and another on the Brussels metro station of Maelbeek, which left 32 people dead.

Source: EFE