Africa : 24 june 2010 [Rwanda: Charges Against Kayumba Still Stand-Mushikiwabo] -

Daily Africa News

OMAR, BXL, AGNEWS, le 24 juin 2010 — The Government of Rwanda will not be deterred by sentiments over a recent shooting incident in South Africa of Rwanda’s former Ambassador to India, Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa, to exonerate him from the serious crimes he is accused of.

BURUNDI :

PREVIEW-Burundi leader set for win as rivals boycott vote
Thu Jun 24, 2010 /Reuters

* Coffee-producer holds polls, president lone candidate

* Election second since war, test of fragile peace

By Patrick Nduwimana BUJUMBURA, June 24 (Reuters) – Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza is assured of re-election on Monday as his rivals are refusing take part in the vote, a boycott that underscores political tensions in the country despite the return of peace.

Six candidates are abstaining from the June 28 vote — the second such contest since more than a decade of civil war that killed 300,000 people — after opposition parties complained of fraud in May’s district polls won by Nkurunziza’s CNDD-FDD.

The election body has rejected calls for a re-run of those polls, as well as a delay of the presidential vote in the coffee-producing nation of 8 million.

“The opposition has decided not to take part. That is their decision. Nkurunziza will be elected,” said Thierry Vircoulon, head of the International Crisis Group’s Central Africa project.

Nkurunziza’s party won 64 percent of the vote in the district polls, which European Union observers said met international standards despite opposition complaints.

The series of polls, which are also meant to include parliamentary elections in July, are the biggest measure of stability since 2005, when former rebel leader Nkurunziza was elected president after a long U.N.-backed peace process.

The turn-out, rather than the result, is likely to be a gauge of Nkurunziza’s rule.

“We can have an election with one candidate and this used to happen in most African countries,” said political analyst Julien Nimubona. “But the big problem here is the credibility for such an election with one party, with one political programme and with one candidate.”

“What will be interesting is to know if Nkurunziza is really a credible candidate …, a champion. He will be a champion in his party if he is massively elected,” Nimubona added.

WORSENING SECURITY

A series of grenade attacks have killed several people and wounded dozens, leaving the authorities and the opposition to trade accusations over who is responsible.

The main Tutsi-dominated UPRONA party wants the vote postponed until conditions improve.

“Security is worsening day after day due to hand grenade blasts. Tension between political parties is so high because there is no dialogue,” said UPRONA spokesman Anicet Niyongabo.

But the CNDD-FDD has accused the opposition of seeking to foment instability by delaying the poll and the election body said voting would take place as expected on Monday.

Burundi has enjoyed relative peace since the last Hutu guerrilla group, the Forces for National Liberation (FNL), agreed last year to lay down weapons and join the government.

But the grenade attacks are deepening fears of violence. ICG has accused the government of intimidating opponents and warned that some of its rivals, especially the FNL and the main Hutu opposition party (FRODEBU), were mobilising youth.

Even if the presidential vote passed peacefully, ICG’s Vircoulon said there are concerns over the opposition’s plans to also boycott the parliamentary elections on July 28.

“There is a risk that the political system is not going to work, and we can’t afford to have a one-party system. This is not possible in Burundi,” he added. (Writing by David Lewis; editing by Giles Elgood)

RWANDA

Professor: Rwanda officials wanted me to disappear
By STEVE KARNOWSKI (AP) /24062010

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A Minnesota law professor said Wednesday he believes Rwandan authorities intended to make him disappear and never planned to prosecute him on allegations that he minimized the country’s 1994 genocide.

Peter Erlinder, a professor at the William Mitchell College of Law, said he believes no one would have learned of his fate if he hadn’t been able to summon a U.S. embassy official to his hotel when he was arrested May 28. He said nobody at the embassy knew he was still in Rwanda because airline records somehow had been altered to show he had left the morning before.

He said he owes his life to thousands of people around the world who demanded his release after word got out. He returned home Tuesday after about three weeks in custody.

The professor spoke at the law school in what had been billed as a briefing for reporters, but shaped up more as a 35-minute lecture on his ordeal, as well as recent Rwandan history. He drew applause from supporters, faculty, staff and students who attended.

Erlinder, who had gone to Rwanda to help defend an opposition presidential candidate, ran afoul of authorities because he disputes the official version of what happened in 1994. He has not been formally charged and was released on medical grounds late last week. Rwandan authorities said their investigation would continue.

Asked if he stood by his pledge to return to Rwanda if required to do so, Erlinder chose his words carefully. If the Rwandan authorities ask him to return, he said, he expects the United Nations would assert his immunity from prosecution.

“I’ll follow the law. You can make of it what you will. And my thinking is the law of the U.N. is I have immunity from prosecution,” he told The Associated Press afterward, adding that he had no idea how the international legal process might play out.

Erlinder has been involved with Rwanda since 2003 through his work as a defense lawyer with the Tanzania-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, which was created by the U.N. Security Council to prosecute those accused of responsibility for the genocide. Tribunal authorities last week said he should have diplomatic immunity.

The generally accepted narrative of the genocide holds that roughly 800,000 Rwandans, the vast majority of them ethnic Tutsis but also moderate Hutus, were slain by extremist Hutus over 100 days as part of a planned massacre. The mass killings followed the shooting down of President Juvenal Habyarimana’s plane in April 1994.

Erlinder said he has never denied that there was a genocide against Tutsis. But he said U.N. and U.S. documents he obtained through his work, and testimony before the tribunal, show that the official version is wrong.

For example, he said, killings by Hutus of Hutus who were protecting Tutsis would not be genocide under the U.N. definition, but may count as war crimes or crimes against humanity. He also said the tribunal ruled last year there was insufficient evidence to support the view that the genocide was a conspiracy planned long in advance. And he said other researchers have concluded that more Hutus than Tutsis may have been slain.

Erlinder urged people to read the documents that led to his conclusions, which he posted on the Internet though his Rwanda Documents Project.

Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo, who’s also a government spokeswoman, did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment. The press officer at the Rwandan embassy in Washington was out of town and unreachable, a man answering the phone there said Wednesday.

But Rwandan authorities have likened their laws against genocide denial to Germany’s laws against Holocaust denial and defended them as necessary for keeping the peace.

Erlinder said reconciliation is possible in Rwanda despite what he contends is a suppression of history to benefit those in power. He suggested a process along the lines of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which investigated the atrocities of the apartheid era and offered amnesty to those who confessed and demonstrated remorse.

“If there is going to be peace in central Africa, then it has to be done the way that the South Africans figured out, to accept responsibility for wrongs on both sides,” he said.

Rwanda case: two walk
Jun 24, 2010 /By Sapa

Charges have been dropped against two people accused of involvement in the shooting of a former Rwandan general.

Gauteng police spokesman Govindsamy Mariemuthoo said the other four arrested in connection with the shooting of Lt-Gen Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa were remanded in police custody when they appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

Nyamwasa was wounded outside his house in Melrose Arch estate, Johannesburg, on Saturday. His wife called it an assassination attempt.

UGANDA

HIV Patients in Uganda
Submitted by WDEF News 12 and CNN /June 24, 2010

AHMED BUKENYA IS ON A MISSION.
FOR MORE THAN A YEAR, HE HAS TRAVELLED TO THIS CLINIC IN UGANDA….EACH TIME HE ASKS FOR AIDS DRUGS THAT COULD SAVE HIS LIFE…THE DOCTORS CAN ONLY TELL HIM ‘NO’….ALL THE FREE TREATMENT SLOTS ARE FULL.
I am desperate, he says, I see the change that the drugs have made in people’s lives. I saw how people got better…It’s It’s just unfortunate that I came too late.
IN THE RECENT PAST, MOST PATIENTS COULD GET FREE TREATMENT, BUT DOCTORS HERE SAY THEY JUST DON’T HAVE THE FUNDING TO GET DRUGS FOR NEW PATIENTS.
….We are beginning to see it coming back, over the last few years, we did not see as many sick patients as we are seeing today, there are some patients in our ward these patients very very sick,
IN THE 90’S UGANDA HAD MORE THAN ONE MILLION HIV/AIDS SUFFERERS WITH JUST 10,000 ON TREATEMENT…SINCE THEN THE COUNTRY MADE HUGE STRIDES….LARGELY BECAUSE OF U.S. GOVERNMENT FUNDING.
IN 2003, U-S PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH ANNOUNCED HIS EMERGENCY PLAN FOR AIDS RELIEF OR PEPFAR DURING HIS STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS…
A MULTIBILLION DOLLAR FUND DEVOTED TO FIGHTING AIDS.
IN UGANDA IT INCREASED TREATEMENT BY 95-PERCENT, BUT EXPERTS SAY PREVENTION EFFORTS NEVER TOOK HOLD AND EVERY HOUR 13 NEW UGANDANS ARE INFECTED WITH HIV …STRAINING FUNDING BUDGETS.
THIS YEAR PEPFAR WAS INCREASED BY ITS SMALLEST AMOUNT YET, NOT ENOUGH TO MEET DEMANDS, CRITICS SAY.
THE HEAD OF PEPFAR SAYS THE FINANCIAL CRISIS HAS HURT FUNDING PROSPECTS BUT THAT THE U.S. IS HELPING ALL IT CAN.
We are not turning our backs to the unmet need. We have responded more than any other country to that unmet need, and will continue to respond and do everything we can to find the resources to respond to those who still need these services.
BUT THOSE WHO NEED SERVICES AREN’T ALWAYS GETTING IT.
UGANDA HEALTH WORKERS HERE SAY THAT PATIENTS ON DRUGS STAY ON DRUGS…NEW PATIENTS GENERALLY ONLY GET A SLOT WHEN SOMEONE DIES.
SO, WHILE MARGARED HAS BEEN ON DRUGS AND HEALTHY FOR 6 YEARS, HER FRIEND GAUDENCIA GROWS SICKER.
I Didn’t have the money, so i didn’t even go back she says…
Its unfair i want the same advantages as others…
AN ADVANTAGE THAT HAS SPARED SO MANY IN UGANDA…WHILE OTHERS NOW WAIT…BUT MAY RUN OUT OF TIME.
IN UGANDA, THEY FEAR THE OLD FACE OF AIDS COULD RETURN.
DAVID MCKENZIE
CNN, KAMPALA UGANDA.

TANZANIA:

Beach signs up in Tanzania
www.upstreamonline.com/24 June 2010

Australian explorer Beach Petroleum said it had entered into a production sharing agreement for a 100% interest in the Lake Tanganyika South concession with the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania.

The agreement gives Beach the right to explore the Great Rift Valley in western Tanzania which it considers to be a highly prospective area for oil.

The PSA is structured into three exploration phases totaling 11 years.

Beach will conduct geophysical surveys and geological studies in the first phase to determine the range of drilling opportunities available to help design the seismic surveys required to detail prospects prior to the selection of drilling candidates.

Beach said it had a well commitment in each of the second and third exploration phases but had the option, at the end of each phase, to relinquish all of the remaining acreage without further obligation.

Beach managing director Reg Nelson said the company’s exploration program will target plays similar to those already yielding significant success in the Rift system in Uganda.

“Given the success of Tullow Oil and Heritage Oil in nearby Uganda, along the same rift valley setting, where over 800 million barrels has been discovered in the past seven years, Beach has high hopes for success in this emerging big oil province,” Nelson said.

Beach said the specific terms of the PSA were confidential, however, due to specific requirements related to operating in a more remote region in western Tanzania, they were more favorable than the standard terms published on the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation.

CONGO RDC :

KENYA :

Kenya’s First-Ever 25-Year Treasury Bond Auction Oversold
June 24, 2010/By Eric Ombok/Bloomberg

June 24 (Bloomberg) — The auction of Kenya’s 7.5 billion shillings ($92.5 million) debut 25-year treasury bond was more than three times oversold, the Central Bank of Kenya said in a statement in the Nairobi-based Daily Nation.

Central Bank of Kenya received 586 bids totaling 27.1 billion shillings, Jackson Kitili, Monetary Operations and Debt Management Director said.

“The number of bids accepted was 248 worth 7.5 billion shillings and the weighted average rate of successful bids was 10.458 percent,” Kitili said.

Kenya Airport Authority blames city dump site for bird threat to aircraft
www.eturbonews.com/By Wolfgang H. Thome, eTN /Jun 24, 2010

(eTN) An increased threat level for landing and departing aircraft due to birds, and complaints by the affected airlines, has prompted the Kenya Airport Authority (KAA) to resort to added activities in scaring birds away from the main runway of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. Groups of workers have also been deployed further afield to the breeding grounds of Marabou storks and other bird species considered of particular threat to air traffic in and out of the airport. Meanwhile, the KAA has blamed the location of the main city rubbish dump between the Nairobi National Park and the airport for an increase in bird flocks, as they commute to scavenge for food sources.

Departing and arriving aircraft do face a major threat to their safety by birds, and several bird strikes were recorded in past years, not only in Nairobi but also the world-famous incident when the pilots landed their disabled plan on the Hudson River in New York after colliding with a flock of geese, which were sucked into the engines. Luckily, in the New York incident, as well as in Nairobi, no passengers came to harm, but the risk is considered high, and constant vigilance is required to keep birds away from the flight paths.

Meanwhile, the presentation of the report of the parliamentary committee on transport has raised arguments in the house as several MPs criticized the committee for their findings, while others defended the impartiality of the report and supported the recommendation of a fresh recruitment exercise for the position of the KAA CEO, claiming the entire exercise was skewed in favor of the “wish list candidate” propped up by the former post holder, the now retired George Muhoho.

ANGOLA :

SOUTH AFRICA:

Adcock, Afgri, Avusa, Sasol: South Africa Equity Preview
June 24, 2010/By Janice Kew and Nicky Smith/Bloomberg

June 24 (Bloomberg) — The following is a list of companies whose shares may have unusual price changes in South Africa. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names and prices are from the last close.

South Africa’s FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index declined 299.60, or 1.1 percent, to 27,617.91, the biggest retreat since June 7.

Adcock Ingram Holdings Ltd. (AIP SJ): The South African drugs manufacturer agreed to promote and distribute Merck & Co. products in South Africa. Adcock fell 1.18 rand, or 2 percent, to 57.31 rand.

Afgri Ltd. (AFR SJ): The government’s Crop Estimates Committee issues its latest estimate. Afgri, which handles about a quarter of South Africa’s grain, rose 7 cents, or 1.1 percent, to 6.30 rand.

Avusa Ltd. (AVU SJ): The South African media and entertainment company said net income for the year through March fell to 159 million rand ($21 million) from 308 million rand a year earlier. The stock was unchanged at 19.35 rand.

Sasol Ltd. (SOL SJ): Christine Ramon, chief financial officer of the world’s biggest maker of motor fuel from coal, releases her latest newsletter. Sasol dropped 3.01 rand, or 1 percent, to 287.49 rand.

Shares or American depositary receipts of the following South African companies closed as follows:

Anglo American Plc (AAUK US) rose 0.7 percent to $19.69 AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (AU US) added 0.6 percent to $43.94. BHP Billiton Ltd. (BBL US) gained 2 percent to $58.95. DRDGold Ltd. (DROOY US) gained 2.7 percent to $4.64. Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI US) advanced 1.1 percent to $13.55. Harmony Gold Mining Co. (HMY US) rose 0.1 percent to $10.24. Impala Platinum Holdings (IMPUY US) shed 0.6 percent to $25.17. Sappi Ltd. (SPP US) slipped 0.8 percent to $3.96. Sasol Ltd. (SSL US) added almost 1 percent to $38.06.

–Editor: Glenn J. Kalinoski, Vernon Wessels.

Merck to Expand Business in South Africa
June 24, 2010/www.marketwatch.com

~ Strategic Collaboration with Leading Local Company Adcock Ingram Announced ~
WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J., Jun 24, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — –~ Merck’s Strategy for Growth in Emerging Markets Furthered ~

Merck (Merck is known as MSD outside the United States and Canada) today announced a strategic collaboration between MSD South Africa and Adcock Ingram, a publicly held South African company, to co-promote and distribute a number of established MSD products in South Africa. The products that will be jointly promoted by MSD and Adcock Ingram include over-the-counter (OTC) products and selected prescription medicines currently registered in South Africa by MSD and Schering-Plough. Financial details of the collaboration were not disclosed.

Collaboration Will Drive Growth

“The collaboration announced today is part of Merck’s long-term strategy of expanding our geographic presence which will position us for leadership in emerging markets,” said Dr. Stefan Oschmann, president, Emerging Markets, MSD. “We expect sales from these markets to be a key contributor to our future performance and growth. As part of our pursuit of that growth we will strive to expand our presence across emerging markets by actively seeking local collaborations. This collaboration, with a highly respected local partner, shows our commitment to invest in South Africa. It also better positions us to address the serious burden of disease in the country and provide the people and patients of South Africa with access to affordable, high-quality health care.”

Merck expects that the Emerging Markets will account for more than 25 percent of its global pharmaceutical and vaccine revenue in 2013 based on the implementation of the company’s emerging markets strategy. To accomplish this, the company intends to continue to successfully launch new products, optimize Merck’s robust in-line portfolio of medicines, vaccines, follow-on biologics and consumer care products, and fully leverage the market for branded generics with the company’s portfolio of mature brands as well as targeted business development.

Jonathan Louw, chief executive officer, Adcock Ingram added, “We are excited about the collaboration with MSD because it will enhance our diverse portfolio and broaden our pipeline of new products in the market place. Together, we have a formidable marketing and distribution capacity backed by an excellent track record of delivery to all our clients.”

Large Portfolio of Products Part of the Collaboration

MSD entered into a collaboration with Adcock Ingram to co-promote and distribute products from various therapeutic areas including: asthma, dermatology, hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, migraine and osteoporosis as well as a portfolio of over the counter medications.

About Adcock Ingram

Adcock Ingram is a publicly held company with a market capitalization of about USD $1.1 billion (South African Rand $9 billion) and occupies approximately 10 percent of the South African private pharmaceutical market. The company has two businesses – pharmaceuticals and hospital products – both of which deliver essential services to a wide customer base. Pharmaceuticals provide an extensive range of prescription medicines across a broad range of therapeutic classes in addition to over-the-counter products and a selective range of personal care products. Its hospital products business is South Africa’s largest supplier of hospital and critical-care products, blood systems and accessories as well as products used for renal dialysis and transplant medication. The company also supplies established brand name medicines and equipment to medical, research and pathology laboratories through their scientific group.

About Merck

Today’s Merck is a global healthcare leader working to help the world be well. Merck is known as MSD outside the United States and Canada. Through our medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, and consumer care and animal health products, we work with customers and operate in more than 140 countries to deliver innovative health solutions. We also demonstrate our commitment to increasing access to healthcare through far-reaching programs that donate and deliver our products to the people who need them. Merck. Be well. For more information, visit www.merck.com.
SOURCE: Merck

After 30 years as Europe’s most eligible bachelor Prince Albert finally gets engaged
voices.washingtonpost.com/24062010

Well, it’s about time!

You can’t say Prince Albert of Monaco, newly engaged Wednesday at age 52 to former South African swimming champ Charlene Wittstock, 32, didn’t get to enjoy a reign as Europe’s most eligible royal bachelor. But that was, er, a quarter-century ago.

It was the 1980s, and the miniature Mediterranean principality with a glamorous ruling family was back on the world’s radar, following the death of his movie-star mom Princess Grace in a tragic car crash. England’s Prince Charles had just recently been taken off the market, so royal wedding watchers focused all their energies on Albert. If his princess sisters Caroline and Stephanie looked like models, he was, well, nice-looking. Amherst grad. Slightly balding. Hobbies: fencing, bobsledding, marine biology. And one day, all of that — a kingdom smaller than Central Park but rich in casinos and tax-sheltering millionaires — would be his.
So the speculation carried out in the tabloids — he was going to marry Brooke Shields, or some Ivy League goddess, or a princess from a nation-speck more obscure than his own. Later, linkages grew more glam — Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell, Kylie Minogue. But none of those got much traction, either.

Then Prince Albert just kept not getting married. Much was at stake: The Grimaldi family would lose the crown if he did not produce an heir. The tabloid speculation ran wild: Was he gay? Was he just boring?

Monaco changed its constitution so Caroline’s kids (by her second and third husbands) could inherit the throne, and the world stopped paying such close attention to the middle-age prince, who inherited the throne from his late father, Prince Rainier, in 2005. And that’s exactly when we learned that he was neither gay nor boring: That same year, he acknowledged having fathered a son by a flight attendant from Togo; the following year, he confessed that a teenage girl in Southern California was his, too. (Born out of wedlock, neither is eligible for the throne.)

So the engagement announcement brought an unexpected new buzz. The striking blonde, whom he met at a 2000 swimming competition, has been no secret in his life. After ending her athletic career and teaching school, she moved to Monaco in 2006 and has been his regular escort at the endless array of photo-ops that make up the life of a prince — award shows, galas, the Olympics, last week’s wedding of Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria.

Why now? The Associated Press cited Monacan speculation that Albert is desperate to boost tourism, or to distract from controversial economic proposals, or to get himself an heir. Um, is Wittstock pregnant? “Honestly, I don’t think so,” palace spokeswoman Laetitia Pierrat told the AP, adding that they’d probably have mentioned it if she were. Maybe he’s just finally found someone he likes.

Lion burgers? Yep, and meat’s from here
articles.chicagotribune.com/By Phil Vettel /June 24, 2010

King of the jungle on menu at Arizona eatery provided by Homer Glen supplier
| Food critic
A Mesa, Ariz., restaurateur serving lion meat as part of a limited-time promotion during South Africa’s hosting of the World Cup said he was alarmed to learn Wednesday that the Homer Glen exotic meat dealer supplying the meat had previously been in trouble with the federal government for illegally selling endangered species.

“This is the first I’ve heard of this,” Cameron Selogie, owner of Il Vinaio restaurant, said after learning of Czimer’s Game & Sea Foods past troubles. Owner Richard Czimer was sentenced to 6 months in prison and slapped with hefty fines in 2003 for selling “lion” meat that proved to be meat from endangered species, including tigers.

Il Vinaio is serving a burger that’s a mixture of lion meat and plain old ground beef for $21.

AFRICA / AU :

Australian, New Zealand Stocks: ANZ, AWE, BHP, Riversdale, Macquarie
By Kana Nishizawa and Sarah McDonald / www.bloomberg.com/ Jun 24, 2010

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 0.1 percent to 4,479.70 at the close of trading in Sydney. New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index declined 0.2 percent to 3,049.47 in Wellington.

The following were among the most active shares in the market today. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names.

Mining shares: Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd resigned as Labor Party leader and was replaced by his former deputy Julia Gillard after a proposed tax on the mining industry caused his opinion poll ratings to plunge and lost him the support of his party. Gillard said she was willing to negotiate over a tax on mining profits.

Rio Tinto Group (RIO AU), the world’s third-biggest mining company, advanced 1.7 percent to A$71.73. Iluka Resources Ltd. (ILU AU) rose 2.4 percent to A$4.80, while Murchison Metals Ltd. (MMX AU) increased 1.4 percent to A$2.24.

BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP AU) gained 1.3 percent to A$39.65. The world’s largest mining company said it is encouraged by the appointment of Gillard and has asked its advertising agencies to suspend all advertisements it was running against the proposed mining tax.

Riversdale Mining Ltd. (RIV AU) soared 7.7 percent to A$11.35. The Australian coal developer said it signed an initial $800 million agreement with Wuhan Iron & Steel Co. to develop a coking coal project in Mozambique’s Tete province.

AWE Ltd. (AWE AU) dropped 4.8 percent to A$1.875. The oil and natural gas explorer’s Tui SW-2 well has been suspended as a future gas injection well, according to a statement submitted to the exchange. New Zealand Oil & Gas Ltd. (NZO NZ), New Zealand’s biggest publicly traded explorer and a partner in the nation’s Tui oil field, retreated 2.3 percent to NZ$1.27 in Wellington.

Boral Ltd. (BLD AU) gained 2 percent to A$5.06. Australia’s largest seller of building materials was raised to “buy” from “neutral” at UBS AG by equity analyst David Leitch.

ConnectEast Group (CEU AU) fell 2.6 percent to 33 Australian cents. Goldman Sachs JBWere Pty analyst Jonathan Collett yesterday cut his rating on the Melbourne-based toll- road operator to “sell” from “hold.”

Elders Ltd. (ELD AU) tumbled for a second day, losing 12 percent to 37.5 Australian cents. The world’s largest wool broker plunged 15 percent yesterday when it was cut to “hold” from “buy” at Deutsche Bank AG by equity analyst Philip Pepe.

Macquarie Group Ltd. (MQG AU) dropped 4.7 percent to A$40.65. Australia’s biggest investment bank said increasingly uncertain markets are weighing on some parts of its business.

Qantas Airways Ltd. (QAN AU) gained 0.4 percent to A$2.36. Australia’s biggest airline will focus on cost cutting to make the carrier the nation’s most popular airline brand by the end of the year, the Australian Financial Review reported, citing new Chief Financial Officer Gareth Evans. Qantas is also reducing the number of cheap flights within Australia to encourage travelers to buy more expensive tickets, the newspaper said.

Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (SIP AU) tumbled 5.4 percent to 44 Australian cents. Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd. of South Africa may alter or scrap its offer for Sigma amid a potential class action lawsuit against the Australian company, the Australian Financial Review reported. Aspen, which is conducting due diligence on the drugmaker, is “uneasy” about bearing the risk of the lawsuit before formalizing its A$707 million bid, the newspaper reported without saying where it got the information.

UN /ONU :

UN chief reports good, bad news on reaching MDG targets by 2015
English.news.cn /Xinhua/ 2010-06-24

UNITED NATIONS, June 23 (Xinhua) — UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon on Wednesday reported both good and bad news on the global efforts to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) — making progress on reducing poverty, but the progress “has been uneven.”

The secretary-general made the statement as he was speaking at a press conference to launch the 2010 Millennium Development Goals Report, which pulls together the latest analysis and data from more than 25 United Nations and international agencies around the world.

“As the report shows, despite the financial crisis, the food crisis, the fuel crisis, the world is still making progress on reducing poverty, albeit more slowly,” he said.

“The overall poverty rate is expected to fall to 15 percent by 2015,” Ban said. “That means about 920 million people will be living below the international poverty line. That is half the number in 1990.”

“Yes, the sharpest reductions are in Asia. But the report also finds that the greatest progress in primary education is in Sub- Saharan Africa,” he said. “We have seen important headway in child health and gender equality in Latin America and the Caribbean.”

“There is bad news, as well,” he said. “Around the world, across the MDGs, progress has been uneven.”

“In some areas, we are sliding back,” he said. “Take poverty, for example. Even before the food and financial crises, hunger and malnutrition in South Asia were on the rise, taking us in the wrong direction. Stubborn gaps persist between rich and poor, between rural and urban, between males and females.”

As this report shows, a girl in one of the poorest households is 3.5 times more likely to be out of school than a girl from the richest household, he said. “And if girls are out of school, economies won’t make the grade. That is just one finding. But it illustrates a much larger point: Meeting the MDGs goes beyond development. At bottom, it is about generating growth — global economic growth.”

“And here, we must recognize a simple fact: in today’s world, economic dynamism lies in emerging economies,” he said. “Like never before, global economic recovery depends on growth in developing countries. That is why I am paying three visits to Africa this month — to highlight the importance of meeting the MDGs for all of us.”

The report helps to set the stage for a September summit at the UN Headquarters in New York. The report came out only days before accountability for aid commitments is discussed by the Group of Eight (G-8) at their meeting hosted by Canada.

“I will also take that human development message with me to the G-20 Summit in Toronto later this week,” he said. “We need to strengthen our focus on three areas: priorities, political will and partnerships.”

“Job one is jobs,” he said. “Today, world unemployment is the highest on record. Two hundred and eleven million people are unemployed — and the world needs to create 470 million new jobs in the next ten years simply to keep pace.”

“It is time to focus on decent work, not only in wealthy nations, but everywhere,” he said. “That means common sense investments in green jobs, economic opportunity for women, and more help for the biggest workforce in the world, small farmers. Economic recovery can’t be sustainable without job recovery.”

“Similarly, we must focus on food security,” he said. ” Delivering on L’Aquila commitments is a good starting point. We must also use the crisis as an opportunity to plant the seeds of a green recovery: investments in clean and sustainable energy.”

“Second, we need greater political will,” he said. “Success begins at home — and developing countries must lead in national plans to meet development goals. But success doesn’t end there. The world’s largest economies have pledged to double development aid to Africa. Smart, reliable investments can make the difference. “

“One of the most effective places is maternal and child health, ” he said. “In Canada, I will urge leaders to support our global action plan on women’s and children’s health. In the 21st century, it is unacceptable that mothers should be dying during childbirth. “

“Third, partnerships,” he said. “We need to expand the coalition for action. That is why I am announcing, today, that we will establish the MDG Advocacy Group — some of the world’s leading thinkers and doers coming together to combat poverty. The Group will be led by co-chairs President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of Spain.”

Editor: Mu Xuequan

USA :

CANADA :

Summitry is worth the cost
Meetings mobilize governments to act
Thu Jun 24 2010/www.thestar.com

Mark Entwistle
“The principal is on the move . . . one minute to motorcade departure!”

The terse message was relayed by the RCMP security detail attached to the Prime Minister of Canada. Breaking off what I had been doing, I scrambled out of the building and threw myself in the car as the door slammed shut and the motorcade set off. This scene was repeated over successive G7 summits in the U.K., France, Germany and Japan I did with the Department of Foreign Affairs and as press

secretary to two different prime ministers.

There were practical reasons why I had to get in that motorcade. The arrival times for leaders at the summit venue are carefully orchestrated and the arrival window allocated to each country is measured in minutes. Motorcades arrive with military precision. If I missed a motorcade departure, I would be hard-pressed to penetrate the fortress-like security perimeter. Rule one of working a summit — make sure you get in the car even if it is moving.

Judgement about the value for money for the Canadian taxpayer of these back-to-back Muskoka G8 and Toronto G20 summits will be sorted out in the political process. But it is a truism to say that, if we are going to continue with summitry, and Canada is to play its rotating role as host, there will be very significant costs, especially related to security in an insecure world.

So should we now abandon summitry itself?

The various arguments of critics of the G8 and G20 are well known — concerns about costs and exclusion of newer key global players, distrust of the clubby ethos and conspiracy theories about world domination. Journalists plying the craft of news making find the summits very frustrating as they are kept at arm’s length from the protagonists and real information to feed the ravenous news cycle is scarce. Summits are boring to cover. A challenge to a press secretary is to try to deal with this boredom before it turns working reporters rabid.

So of what value are these events?

The annual G8 summit sits in a unique space in global governance between the geostrategic crisis management of the United Nations Security Council and the bureaucracy of other multilateral bodies. It channels focussed bilateralism in an atmosphere of relative trust between partners. When G8 summits rise to meet their modern potential, they can serve to catalyze.

An example of this potential has been G8 attention to the future of Africa, starting at the Kananaskis summit in 2002 and intensified at the Gleneagles summit of 2005. There has been demonstrable progress in Africa, where, for example, 42 million more children are in school. The global anti-poverty organization ONE has estimated that since 2004 the old G7 has put about $14 billion of new money into sub-Saharan Africa and met about 61 per cent of its Gleneagles pledge to double aid to that region. That proportion would be significantly higher if Italy were removed from the calculation. Despite the need for much more effective accountability at both the donor and recipient ends, this is good news overall which would simply not have happened had the G8 had not acted.

The annual G8 summit also mobilizes the resources and will of national bureaucracies like no other event on the international calendar, in marked contrast to the lumbering pace of other multilateral processes. Since the G8 is the prime minister’s show alone, his or her personal representative for the summit (the so-called sherpa) has a mandate to, if necessary, force the prime minister’s will throughout the system to ensure success at the summit. In the many G8 preparatory meetings in which I participated, which often included ministers and deputy ministers, it was the sherpa who drove the policy train. The eyes of the world watching the G8 summit can produce a focus and results just not possible in the normal conduct of government operations.

The G20 is a different animal altogether.

It rightly has the voices of new influential global players at the table, is focussed principally on global finance issues, but is less capable of coordinating action on the international political and security agenda that so often captures the attention of the G8. It is more formal in style, partly because it is so much bigger but partly because of the different kinds of actors. This is the G20’s potential Achilles heel as a piece of global architecture, where the useful intimacy of the G8 could be lost to the cataloguing of set-piece policy positions if the G20 enters into subject areas beyond global finance.

Next G20 host Korea and other countries have expressed interest in seeing the G20 take on international development issues, which could be helpful regarding, for example, better international action on trade and investment. This is especially so against the backdrop of China’s aggressive entry into Africa in search of raw materials. And more traditional foreign aid issues could stay with the G8, where the conversation is of a different nature and a broad consensus already exists. The future relationship between the G8 and G20 needs to be constructed with purpose and care, and not by accident.

Mark Entwistle is a former press secretary to the prime minister and ambassador and is senior adviser to ONE for Canada and the G8 and G20 Summits.

AUSTRALIA :

Wuhan Iron, Riversdale in Africa Coal Tie-Up
online.wsj.com/DOW JONES NEWSWIRES /JUNE 24, 2010

BEIJING –Chinese state-controlled steel giant Wuhan Iron & Steel Corp. Thursday signed a nonbinding agreement with Australia’s Riversdale Mining Ltd. to take a 40% stake in a Mozambique mine and a minority share in the Australian miner for US$800 million.

The pending deal is at least the second this year into resource-rich Africa for Wuhan Iron, also known as Wisco, as part of its aggressive plans for overseas expansion to secure raw materials.

Riversdale announced the deal Thursday in Sydney, underlining the growth in Sino-Australian ties regardless of the fate of Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who stepped down Thursday in a domestic scuffle only days after Beijing and Canberra inked 10 billion Australian dollars (US$8.73 billion) worth of bilateral deals during Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping’s first-ever official visit to Australia.

Under the memorandum of understanding signed by the two companies, Wuhan Iron will pay US$800 million for the right to purchase at least 40% of the coking coal produced from the Zambeze coal project, and it take an 8% equity stake in Riversdale for A$10.00 a share, the Australian miner said in a statement.

An official with Wisco said the deal is at a preliminary stage and subject to many conditions such as the approval of the governments of China and Mozambique.

Wisco, parent of the Shanghai-listed flagship Wuhan Iron & Steel Co. Ltd. , won’t make a public announcement until the deal is finalized, the official said.

“The Chinese government will certainly support China’s firms to secure resources overseas, but the point is can we get the support of the Mozambique government?,” he said, adding that Wisco has started talks with authorities in Mozambique.

Although China is not strapped for coking coal, a steelmaking ingredient, the company wants to secure supplies of all raw materials as soon as possible, he said.

Riversdale said the memorandum also covers facilitation of a logistics partnership with China Communications Construction Co. to study mine-to-ship logistics for the transport of the coal to ports for export.

The US$800 million would be paid in three tranches and subject to the achievement of certain milestones, Riversdale said.

Under the terms of the memorandum, once the definitive agreement is signed, which must happen within 120 days of the signing of the memorandum, Wuhan will pay the first US$200 million tranche for its share in the African mine, and will be issued the 8% equity stake in Riversdale.

The remaining funds from Wuhan will be contingent on completion of a feasibility study for the Zambeze coal project, including its ability to produce at least 30 million run-of-mine tons of coal annually.

“Through our Chinese venture partners, we gain funding to develop the mine and a buyer for part of Zambeze’s off-take. We also gain access to world-class mine-to-ship logistics and infrastructure expertise to facilitate the export of the mine’s coal products,” Riversdale Executive Chairman Michael O’Keeffe said in the statement.

Wisco is the third-largest steelmaker in China and has been active in recent years in diversifying its raw material supplies. It is primarily focusing on iron ore, as it imports 80% of its needs.

The company has taken stakes in iron ore miners including Brazil’s MMX Mineracao e Metalicos S.A. and Australia’s Centrex Metals Ltd.

In March, Wisco said it was acquiring a 60% stake in an iron ore mine in Liberia for $68.46 million.

—Ross Kelly and Yajun Zhang

EUROPE :

CHINA :

Ford to Invest in Thai Car Plant Amid Demand in Asia
online.wsj.com/By JAMES HOOKWAY and MATTHEW DOLAN /JUNE 24, 2010.

BANGKOK—Ford Motor Co. is making multi-million-dollar investments in two major export hubs in Asia and Africa, as part of an effort to beef up its presence in fast-growing emerging markets.

On Thursday, Ford announced a $450 million outlay to build a new passenger car plant in Thailand. The plant is expected to provide a boost to the Thai auto industry and help an economy racked by months of political turmoil.

Next week, Ford will unveil plans to increase production capacity at a plant in South Africa, enabling the company to export more Ford Ranger trucks to Europe and other markets. The company has no plans to import the global version of the popular truck to the U.S. market, a Ford executive said.

“Frankly we’re maxed out. We have more sales potential than we can build,” Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s president for Asia-Pacific and Africa, said of Ranger production. “The next generation Ranger will be also built in South Africa and will be a great opportunity for us to expand our capacity for Ranger globally.”

The investments follow Ford’s strong earnings in the first quarter, when it reported $2 billion in net income. Despite its improved bottom line, the auto maker still faces a number of challenges, including $31.3 billion in debt and sluggish auto markets in the U.S. and Europe.

Ford has been seen as a late-entry in Asia, especially in China which recently became the world’s largest market for auto sales. In the past year, however, it opened a new small-car plant in India that helped double its capacity in that country, and a new assembly plant in China for the Focus compact car, all in a bid to catch up to General Motors Co. and Volkswagen AG

“Ford is literally making up for lost time in Asia Pacific,” said Michael Robinet, an automotive analyst with IHS Automotive. He said Ford’s strategy to build cars and trucks in one central country and export those vehicles to neighboring markets could save the auto maker money from economies of scale, but also poses a risk by increasing exposure to currency fluctuations.

The Dearborn, Mich., auto maker is also looking to carve an independent path in Asia separate from Mazda Motor Corp., once a close Ford partner, according to Mr. Robinet. In the past few years it has reduced its stake in Mazda to 11%, from a controlling 33%. It is also pursuing the break-up of its three-way partnership in China with Mazda and Changan Automotive Group, according to people familiar with the matter. It hopes instead for the Chinese auto maker to partner individually with Ford and Mazda.

Ford’s top official in the region said he doesn’t foresee additional alliances in China. “We have the partners that we need for both passenger cars and commercial vehicles for the future,” Mr. Hinrichs said of Ford’s two Chinese partners.

The company plans to build its Focus passenger car at the new facility in Thailand, but unlike a similar plant in China, it will largely export it to meet fast-growing Asia-Pacific demand for mid-sized vehicles. The company expects to complete the new plant in 2012 and start an initial production run of 150,000 units a year.

Ford’s announcement underscores how Thailand is attracting increasingly complex forms of auto manufacturing, burnishing its reputation as the “Detroit of the East” despite the country’s disruptive political conflicts. Antigovernment protests last month turned into violent street clashes between protesters and government troops, killing nearly 90 people and scarring Thailand’s reputation as safe investment hub.

The automotive linchpin of Southeast Asia, Thailand already exports more pickup trucks than any other country in the world and produces more than any other outside the U.S. In 2007, Ford and Mazda announced plans to produce passenger cars here in a joint venture, and the first cars from that project will run off the assembly line soon.

Ford’s latest announcement provides further momentum to the Thai government’s efforts to put the country on the global passenger car map. Ford said its new plant will buy as much as $800 million of local components a year to support production of the Focus, and the new facility could generate as many as 11,000 new jobs—2,200 jobs with Ford and 8,800 with its supplier and dealer networks.

Mr. Hinrichs said some 85% of the Thai-based Focus output will be exported, mostly to other Southeast Asian nations and to Australia. He said the strategy of producing a medium-sized car in Thailand complements Ford’s plans to concentrate on building smaller, more compact vehicles in India and a full range of vehicles in China to serve that country’s fast-growing and quickly segmenting market.

Many parts of Thailand, including the capital, Bangkok, are still under emergency rule following May’s clashes as Thailand’s army-backed government continues its bid to counter a challenge from populist Red Shirt demonstrators, who have been pushing for new elections.

Economists have said Thailand’s political conflicts have largely been confined to Bangkok, and the country’s large industrialized eastern seaboard has been largely unaffected.

Write to James Hookway at james.hookway@wsj.com

Time to expand the role of the G20
June 24, 2010 /By Jennifer Clibbon CBC News

Former prime minister Paul Martin probably knows more about the G20 than almost anyone on the planet.

Indeed, he was one of the initial architects of that first meeting of G20 finance ministers in 1999, as the Asian financial crisis was unfolding.

In 2008, as another global financial crisis was underway, then U.S. president George W. Bush raised the ante, remaking the G20 gathering as a leaders’ forum.

Still, the G20 mandate has almost always focused on financial and economic issues, like international debt and banking regulations, which are on the agenda for Toronto.

It is a slightly different focus for the more exclusive G8 gathering, which, because it is comprised of the so-called rich countries, typically deals as well with issues of global development, such as aid to Africa.

But Martin, who now spends much of his time doing charitable work related to Africa and Canada’s aboriginal communities, has been very vocal of late that it is time for an expanded role for the G20.

He spoke with CBC Producer Jennifer Clibbon on the upcoming G20 summit and what he hopes it will accomplish.

——————————————————————————–

Clibbon: You have argued that the G20 discussions should include climate change and global poverty. With regard to climate change, what specifically are you calling for?

Martin: The Mexicans are trying to rekindle the momentum that the climate change issue had. They are focusing specifically on how do you finance the battle against climate change and, even more specifically, on the needs for mitigation and adaptation by the developing countries.

Those are financial issues. They will be dealt with in Cancun at the end of this year and it is very important that the G20 send the message that, in fact, they will stand behind the promises that were made at Copenhagen.

That is to say, $30 billion fast start for the developing world over the course of the next two years and, following that, the $100 billion that they expect to involve the private sector in, over the course of the next 10 years.

You’ve also said global poverty should be on the agenda. Isn’t that more of a G8 issue, something for the donor countries to take on?

Martin: That has been said by other people, that the G8 is where the cheque writers come from.

That would come as a great surprise to Australia, which is certainly a donor country, especially in the Far East.

If someone thinks China is not a donor country, let them come with me to Africa and tell that to the Africans, who regard China as the single largest donor in their backyard.

If somebody wants to make this distinction that the G20 deals with financial and economic issues, and the G8 deals with social issues, let them tell somebody who is terribly poor in Central America or in Africa that those aren’t economic issues.

How then do you envision an expanded role for the G20?

Martin: The G20 was essentially created for two reasons. First of all, the G8 was unable to deal with many issues that had become gridlocked. The reason it was not able to do that was because China, India, Brazil and other emerging economies were not at table.

My view is that the role of the G20 is to make globalization work. To make it work you have to deal with those gridlock issues.

Let me give you an example, Canada intends to bring maternal health and children’s health to the G8. That’s a tremendous initiative.

But even the NGOs who asked Canada to bring it to the G8 have recognized very clearly that unless it goes to the wider G20 meeting, it isn’t going to happen in any where near the degree that they would like to see, or that I would like to see.

Given that you think global poverty should be a key issue, why wasn’t there greater representation of African countries in the original conception of the G20?

Martin: Nigeria was on the original list. Unfortunately, at that time Nigeria was going through some major government upheavals, which it still is in a certain way.

Under those circumstances it was deemed that we had to have greater stability in order for Nigeria to be there.

This is clearly an area that has to be remedied. I don’t think we should be reviewing the membership. That would be to open a Pandora’s box and would freeze a lot of progress. But there are certain areas where change has to be brought and I think that African representation is one of them.

As an architect of the G20, it must have been interesting to observe the differences on issues and approaches among the key countries. Could you reflect on this?

Martin: Where G20 originally started was at the finance level. The skills of the finance ministers and of the central bank governors of the emerging economies was every bit as good it was in the G8 countries.

These were people, many of whom had been trained at the same universities. Many of us knew each other very well before the first G20 meeting. From a point of view of skills, there was no differential, nor was there in terms of understandings.

Were there differences of opinions? Yes, there were. But there were differences of opinion within the G8 as well. Russia didn’t necessarily share the same views as the U.S. does, anymore than China or India necessarily share the same views today.

China comes to the G20 with its own set of demands and a need for recognition. How do you accommodate an ascendant China at this summit and in the future?

Martin: China isn’t asking only for its own needs. China is really saying that the emerging economies as a whole have to be better reflected in places like the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund, and with considerable justification.

What they are essentially saying is let the world’s institutions reflect the reality of the world.

Clearly Europe is over-represented in these institutions, as it was over-represented in the G8.

When you consider China, Japan, the growth of India and Brazil, when you recognize their influence today in the global economy and the fact that that’s where the bulk of the world’s growth is coming from, then it only stands to reason that their reality should be reflected in these institutions.

Many Africans worry that if the G8 disappears, then the G20 might not be in a position to keep the development commitments. What do you say?

Martin: The single biggest donor in Africa is China. India is probably more influential than a great number of European countries on the ground today.

Fundamentally, one of the reasons for the G20 is to make sure that we are coordinated on Central America and Africa.

Africa has to be brought into globalization. If Africa is going to be able to develop an internal common market, if it’s going to have the money available for infrastructure and to make the transition to the global economy, it is going to require not simply the G8 countries, it’s going to require the major Asian countries to be at the table to make this happen.

They are actively involved there, so let’s make it happen in the best way possible.

You have said that Canada has a chance to take a leadership role at the G20 meeting. How is this an historic moment for Canada?

Martin: Well, we’re not going to hold another G20 meeting for 20 years.

The host has an enormous opportunity to influence these kinds of summit meetings. We saw it at the G20 meetings in Washington and London and Pittsburgh. We saw it at the G8 meeting at Gleneagles [in 2005] where Tony Blair took the lead on Africa.

I believe that under these circumstances, if Canada really wants to make maternal health work,
it has to bring it to the G20 as well.

If Canada wants to respect the wishes of the rest of the world, including the president of Mexico who came to Canada to make that request, we will deal with climate change.

I believe very strongly that it’s a mistake for Canada to simply back away from bank regulation, from the need to have increased bank capital and leave that for another time.

Canada and its officials have led the battle in terms of bank regulation, which is at the core of this financial crisis. We’ve been at it since the Asian crisis.

I think it should be dealt with by Canada. I think if we do that, then Canada will leave a mark on the world and on the G20 in a way that will be felt positively for generations to come.

Nike profit matches view, sees pressure ahead
Jun 24, 2010/Reuters

(Reuters) – Nike Inc (NKE.N) on Wednesday said fourth-quarter profit jumped 53 percent to match Wall Street’s view, but cautioned that the strong dollar and higher costs for oil, labor and shipping would weigh on profits and sales in the coming year.

Hot Stocks

Shares in Nike slipped 2.4 percent after the largest global player in the athletic shoe and clothing market said fourth-quarter revenue missed analysts goal.

The company, which is making a big splash at the World Cup soccer championships in South Africa, added that currency volatility and input cost inflation would put “significant pressure” on sales and earnings in its fiscal year ending May 2011.

“The stronger dollar and rising costs for product components such as oil, labor and freight will put significant pressure on gross margins,” Nike Chief Financial Officer Don Blair told analysts on a conference call.

Nike said it now expects fiscal 2011 revenue, excluding the impact of currency exchange, to grow at a high-single-digit rate. It sees low-double-digit growth for the current first quarter.

Fourth-quarter net profit rose to $521.9 million, or $1.06 per share, for the fiscal fourth quarter ended May 31, from $341.4 million, or 70 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue increased almost 8 percent to $5.08 billion, but fell short of analysts’ sales target of $5.15 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Excluding currency fluctuations, revenue rose 4 percent, Nike said.

By region, revenue in Nike’s largest market of North America increased 4 percent to $1.8 billion. Revenue also gained around Europe and China, while Japan sales declined.

The company’s emerging markets revenue leaped 47 percent to $556 million.

Revenue for soccer-related gear was up 39 percent during the fourth quarter.

“And that’s before the first goal was scored at the World Cup,” President and Chief Executive Mark Parker said on a conference call.

Nine World Cup teams, including the United States and Brazil, are sporting Nike kit and England is wearing a jersey bearing the company’s Umbro brand.

Revenue for non-Nike brands, which include Cole Haan, Converse, Hurley and Umbro, increased 9 percent to $714 million.

Gross margins were 47.4 percent versus 43.4 percent a year ago as the company contained costs amid increased World Cup marketing spending.

Orders for Nike brand shoes and apparel scheduled for delivery from June through November totaled $8.8 billion and were up 7 percent from a year earlier. Excluding currency changes, orders would have increased 10 percent, Nike said.

Orders are a key gauge of demand and the company in the third quarter turned around a yearlong string of forward order declines.

Shares of Beaverton, Oregon-based Nike fell to $70.80 after closing at $72.52 on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles and Alexandria Sage in New York, editing by Gary Hill, Matthew Lewis and Leslie Gevirtz)

INDIA :

Rwanda: Charges Against Kayumba Still Stand-Mushikiwabo
Edmund Kagire/The New Times/allafrica.com/24 June 2010

Kigali — The Government of Rwanda will not be deterred by sentiments over a recent shooting incident in South Africa of Rwanda’s former Ambassador to India, Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa, to exonerate him from the serious crimes he is accused of.

This was said yesterday by the Government Spokesperson and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Louise Mushikiwabo, during a press conference.

“The Government of Rwanda is not angry with him. I want to take the sentimentalism out of it and say that Gen. Nyamwasa has been pursued for very serious criminal charges so it’s not a question of anger, it’s a question of crime,” she pointed out.

“I want to remind you that since the incident over the weekend, we as a government have expressed our sympathy to the family, it is quite understandable.

“We have also a level of understanding for some of the people who feel for the family and want, of course his swift recovery-we want the same thing, but that doesn’t take away the element of crime,” Mushikiwabo said

Mushikiwabo warned that one of the things people should take seriously are matters of state and criminal behaviour and that gravity of the crimes cannot be taken away by the predicament the person undergoes or what his family and friends feel.

“I just want to set the record straight; that it’s about his behaviour, it’s about his accountability, its about the crimes that this man is accused of, but that doesn’t take away the charges that are weighing against him,”
“As far as the Government of Rwanda is concerned, he is a Rwandan citizen, he has a family. Our government is not a government that wants or supports violence. We don’t want to be associated with some of the comments we are seeing in the media about this government trying to kill Nyamwasa,” Mushikiwabo said.

She said that it is unfortunate and wrong that President Paul Kagame is directly being incriminated in the media, adding that the record of the government is very clear.

Mushikiwabo added that the current government, in the last 16 years has pursued forgiveness and acceptance, including Genocide suspects, but Kayumba did not choose that path but instead went soiling the image of the government.

Mushikiwabo revealed that Kayumba’s family was not mistreated or put under house arrest in India after Kayumba escaped as reported. She added that diplomatic discussions are ongoing regarding a possible extradition.

India’s Stocks Advance for a Second Day; Larsen, Sterlite Gain
June 24, 2010/By Hemal Savai/Bloomberg

June 24 (Bloomberg) — India’s benchmark stock index rose for a second day amid optimism domestic economic growth won’t be derailed by higher interest rates.

Larsen & Toubro Ltd., the nation’s biggest engineering company, gained for the first day in three. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said while inflation is “a matter of concern,” policy makers will have to “strike a balance” between expanding the economy and easing price increases. Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd., a copper producer, advanced with the metal’s price.

“Investors are extending their commitment because of India’s growth story,” said Kishor Ostwal, managing director of CNI Research (India) Ltd., a listed equities research provider in Mumbai. “The market is expecting a rate hike and that only confirms that the economy is growing.” Ostwal recommends investors buy shares in Tata Steel Ltd.

The Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index, or Sensex, gained 70.55, or 0.4 percent, to 17,826.49 at 11:48 a.m. in Mumbai. The S&P CNX Nifty Index on the National Stock Exchange rose 0.4 percent to 5,342.45. The BSE 200 Index increased 0.4 percent to 2,254.72.

Larsen & Toubro rose 1.6 percent to 1,792.5 rupees. Hindustan Unilever Ltd., the local unit of the world’s second- largest consumer-goods maker, advanced 1.1 percent to 269.2 rupees, poised for its highest close in six months after five days of gains.

“I do hope that the steps we’ve taken both on the demand side and supply side will have a moderating influence” on inflation, Mukherjee said in an interview in Washington yesterday.

Inflation

India’s benchmark wholesale-price inflation accelerated 10.16 percent in May from a year earlier, close to the fastest pace in 17 months. The Reserve Bank of India will raise interest rates in a “calibrated” way given the cash squeeze in the economy and the threat posed by Europe’s crisis, Governor Duvvuri Subbarao said June 18. The next monetary policy announcement is scheduled for July 27. The central bank has increased borrowing costs twice since mid-March to control the pace of price increases.

Sterlite Industries, India’s largest copper producer, advanced 1.5 percent to 178.65 rupees. Copper rose as much as 2.6 percent in London as the dollar declined. Metals, priced in the dollar, usually move counter to the currency. Tata Steel Ltd. rose 1.2 percent to 503.6 rupees.

Overseas funds bought a net 10.4 billion rupees ($225.3 million) of Indian equities June 22, taking their total purchases of the stocks this year to 290.5 billion rupees, according to the nation’s market regulator.

Inflows from overseas reached a record 834.2 billion rupees in 2009, exceeding the high set two years ago in local currency terms, as the biggest advance in 18 years lured foreign funds. They sold a record 529.9 billion rupees of shares in 2008, triggering a record annual decline.

The following were among the most active on the exchange:

HCL Technologies Ltd. (HCLT IN), a software services company, dropped 4.1 percent to 357.4 rupees. About 2.4 percent of its equity, changed hands in a single block deal on the Bombay Stock Exchange, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Buyers and sellers weren’t immediately known.

Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. (KMB IN) fell 2.7 percent to 763 rupees. ING Groep NV sold its entire holding of 10.7 million shares in the lender for 8.03 billion rupees, or 750 rupees apiece, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

Shriram EPC Ltd. (SEPC IN) gained 2.2 percent to 268.65 rupees after the engineering company said it won contracts valued at 830 million rupees.

–Editors: Margo Towie, Linus Chua.

India Day Ahead: State Bank $1 Billion Bond Sale; Cutting Litigation Time
By Hari Govind / www.bloomberg.com/ Jun 24, 2010

The following are some of the important stories that broke overnight, and newspaper summaries in India today: