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A lawmaker in the Central African Republic’s interim parliament was murdered in the capital Bangui Sunday by unidentified assailants, according to the Central African League of Human Rights.
The MP who was killed was identified as Jean-Emmanuel Ndjaroua, representative of the southeast region of Haute Kotto, by the League’s chief Joseph Bindoumi.
No group claimed responsibility for killing Ndjaroua a day after he made a speech denouncing recent violence and calling for Christian militias to be confined to barracks.
Government officials said attackers followed the lawmaker, and shot him several times outside his house.
Red Cross country director Antoine Mbao Bogo said his organization had been called to collect the body.
Lynchings of minority Muslims
A weekend of violence and looting in Bangui has left at least 10 people dead, according to witnesses and a humanitarian official who spoke to AFP Sunday. The violence included two gruesome lynchings of minority Muslims.
Fighting broke out Saturday evening between Christian vigilantes and Muslims in the west of Bangui where many buildings were torched, they said.
A resident told AFP that the Muslim killer of a Christian woman was lynched and killed before his body was burned and deposited in front of the local town hall, where it could be seen early Sunday.
A suspected Christian militiaman killed another Muslim civilian, and was about to burn the body when Rwandan soldiers of the African peacekeeping force MISCA shot him dead, a witness who gave his name as Innocent told AFP.
The shooting prompted an angry crowd to shout slogans against the Rwandan soldiers, whom they mistakenly believed to be Muslim. “Death to the Rwandans,” one shouted, according to Innocent.
Five other people were killed in unclear circumstances, the witnesses said.
Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch confirmed the witness reports and said another Muslim was lynched early Sunday near Bangui’s central market.
The former French colony has been engulfed in violence for nearly a year since the Seleka rebel group installed Michel Djotodia as the country’s first Muslim president in a coup in March 2013.
The following months saw rogue Seleka fighters unleash a wave of atrocities against the Christian majority, prompting the emergence of vigilante groups.
The violence has raged unabated even after Djotodia stepped aside and the parliament appointed interim President Catherine Samba Panza last month, and Muslims have been fleeing the violence in their thousands.
A man was lynched Friday after he fell off a lorry in a convoy of terrified Muslims fleeing Bangui. Residents hacked him to death and dumped his body on the roadside.
‘The French won’t fire at us’
Meanwhile looting was rampant in the capital, where young people could be seen removing furniture and equipment from buildings and shops — some still smoldering from fires set on Saturday — despite the heavy presence of French and African peacekeepers as a French helicopter gunship circled above.
The peacekeepers went from door to door to try to rout the looters, who simply moved on to other targets, pushing their carts and wheelbarrows between French armored cars.
“The French won’t fire at us,” one young looter said, laughing.
The mayhem came as French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian began an African tour on Sunday in the Chadian capital N’Djamena mainly focused on the Central African conflict.
Chad, the impoverished country’s neighbor to the north, has 850 troops in MISCA and is also home to 950 French troops — Paris’s largest concentration of soldiers abroad after Djibouti.
Le Drian is to meet Chad’s President Idriss Deby, often described as the kingmaker of Bangui politics, before heading to Brazzaville for talks with President Denis Sassou Nguesso, a mediator in the conflict.
On Wednesday Le Drian will begin his third visit since the French operation codenamed Sangaris was launched two months ago.
Muslim Central Africans and foreigners have been fleeing Bangui for several months to escape killings, looting and harassment by armed Christian militias.
The International Criminal Court said Friday it had opened an initial probe into war crimes in the Central African Republic.
Atrocities, the fear of attacks and a lack of food have displaced almost a quarter of the country’s population of about 4.6 million, while the United Nations and relief agencies estimate that at least two million people need humanitarian assistance.
The landlocked country has been prone to coups, rebellions and mutinies for decades, but the current sectarian conflict is unprecedented.
Reuters contributed to this report.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/140210/politician-killed-bangui-central-african-republic-violence
RICK SANTELLI: The topic of today has to be what’s going on in all the markets around the globe, and I think the best way to look at it is to think about when you’re a kid and you used to do cannonballs. You jump in the water with a cannonball, you get a big splash. Now imagine that same pool, imagine you have a refrigerator in it with a crane. If you lift it up real fast you get the same action as a cannonball in reverse. The big splash and all the waves when you drop something in or take something out quickly. And I think that goes a long way to explain what’s happening. Let’s think about the fairy dust aspects of commercial banks, central banks.
So you have the CBs, and many of them are going to of course say, you can look back to all of the emerging markets and all of the people involved in their central banking and their practices to keep their currencies in order, and there’s been a lot of squawking, now these are unintended consequences. So when we look at the fairy dust commercial central banks have created, we have to give them a nod that at least for a while they made everything seem like it could work, that everything we’re building upon is a foundation for the aftermath of the credit crisis is solid. And it works for a while.
BANGUI (Reuters) — Mariam watched in horror as militiamen burst through the gate of her home in Central African Republic’s capital Bangui and demanded her husband say whether he was Muslim. When he said yes, they shot him dead.
“They killed him just like that in front of our child,” said Mariam, who fled through the back door. “Then they hacked and clubbed our neighbors, a husband and wife, to death.”
The two-day frenzy of violence in Bangui this month — in which militia killed 1,000 people, according to Amnesty International — fed fears that Central African Republic was about to descend into religious warfare on a scale comparable to Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.
The slaughter — a response to months of atrocities by mostly Muslim fighters from the Seleka rebel group who seized power in March — prompted France to immediately deploy 1,600 troops under a U.N. mandate to protect civilians.
Religious leaders had sounded the alarm over abuses by the Seleka after they burned churches, looted and killed during their southward march on the capital early this year. The violence has displaced some 700,000 people so far.
Many in the country insist that the origins of the bloodshed have little to do with religion, in a nation where Muslims and Christians have long lived in peace. Instead, they blame a political battle for control over resources in one of Africa‘s weakest-governed states, split along ethnic faultlines and worsened by foreign meddling.
“We carried out these attacks because we have been invaded by foreigners by Chad and Sudan,” said Hercule Bokoe, a member of the militia, known as “anti-machete” and set up for self defense before the Seleka rebels arrived. He said his group’s aim was purely political: it would fight on until Seleka leader Michel Djotodia, installed as interim president, left power.
“We said to ourselves that the country cannot continue to be held hostage by foreigners,” Bokoe told Reuters.
“POLITICAL CONFLICT”
Rich in diamonds, timber, gold, uranium and even oil, Central African Republic has been racked by five coups and numerous rebellions since independence from France in 1960 as different groups fought for control of state resources.
That — and spillover from conflicts in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Chad — have destroyed the rule of law, leaving a phantom state with an ill-disciplined army, corrupt administration and a lawless interior.
Djotodia and other Seleka leaders launched their uprising to gain access for northern peoples to resource wealth — particularly oil being exploited in their northern homeland by the China National Petroleum Corporation.
Djotodia says his northern Gula tribespeople — Muslim pastoralists neglected both under French colonial rule and post-independence governments — were betrayed by former President Francis Bozize, who sought their aid for a 2003 coup but surrounded himself with his Gbaya tribe once in power.
With support from battle-hardened Chadian and Sudanese fighters, many of them also Gulas, Seleka swept southward, overrunning not only Bozize’s poorly equipped troops but also a South African peacekeeping force in March.
Once in Bangui, unable to speak French or the local Sango language, Seleka fighters sought out Arabic-speaking Muslims and stayed with them, often hoarding looted goods in their homes.
Non-Muslims equated this with complicity, said Archbishop of Bangui Diedonne Nzapalainga, with the devastating effects seen in the early December violence.
“To non-Muslim locals, Muslim now equals Seleka and Seleka equals Muslim,” said Nzapalainga, who for months has worked with Muslim clerics to try to calm rising religious tensions. “We came out early and declared that this conflict was not a religious conflict but a political one.”
“CHAD IS THE MASTER”
Djotodia, 64, waged an unsuccessful uprising against Bozize in the late 2000s using a network of Sudanese and Chadian support he had established during his time as consul in Nyala in Sudan’s southern Darfur region earlier that decade.
But a rift between Bozize and his main military backer, Chadian President Idriss Deby, shifted the balance of power in Djotodia’s favour. Deby, who had helped install Bozize as president in the 2003 coup, withdrew his Chadian presidential guard last year.
Witnesses said Chadian peacekeepers simply stood aside when Seleka troops — led by a former member of Deby’s own presidential bodyguard — marched on Bangui. As Bozize’s replacement in the presidential palace, it is now Djotodia who enjoys the protection of Chadian bodyguards.
Many in the capital say ethnic ties between the Seleka and Chadian soldiers participating in a 3,700-strong African Union peacekeeping mission (MISCA) are complicating efforts to resolve the crisis.
Residents in Bangui have accused Chadian troops of supplying Seleka fighters, turning a blind eye to their activities, and even attacking Christians themselves. Olivier Domanga, a resident of northern Bangui, said Chadian troops distributed dozens of weapons to Muslim inhabitants of his neighborhood.
“Chad is the master of Seleka and Seleka is its attack dog,” said Philomon Dounia, another Bangui resident.
Chad says its peacekeepers are neutral and denies supporting Seleka or distributing weapons to Muslims.
After opposition politicians and civil society activists demanded the Chadians’ withdrawal, MISCA’s commanding officer, Cameroon’s Martin Tumenta Chomu, said on Tuesday they would be moved outside the capital to northern Central African Republic.
WORST EVER LOOTING
Even in a country inured to rebellions, Seleka’s atrocities have proved shocking. It has been exacerbated the lack of a command structure in the loose coalition, whose name means ‘alliance’ in Sango. Warlords carved up territory where they had the power of life and death as they sought to extort money, particularly from non-Muslims.
Acknowledging he was powerless to control the fighters in a country the area of France, Djotodia announced the official dissolution and disarmament of Seleka following outcry from the international community, but this had little effect.
As Seleka torched villages and massacred entire populations, the “anti-machete”, or “anti-balaka” — initially local militias paid to defend crops and cattle against robbers and highwaymen due to the absence of state security — began seeking revenge.
According to local animist beliefs, members of the militia have magical powers that protect them, and amulets they wear make them invincible.
“The anti-balaka have nothing to do with the church or Christianity. Calling them a Christian militia is wrong,” said Nzapalainga, who said the ranks of the militia were swollen by people who had lost belongings or loved ones to Seleka.
“To them, it is revenge. I have heard people say this is the ‘return match’,” he said.
Louisa Lombard, an anthropologist specializing in Central Africa Republic, said tensions between Muslims and Christians had increased over the past decade but this was due largely to the success of Muslim traders with contacts in Chad and Sudan, rather than a rise of religious extremism.
“It is more an issue of the Muslims being considered foreigners by the Christians,” she said.
Despite these tensions, many Central Africans are proud of their tolerance and tradition of cohabitation and inter-marriage.
Imam Oumar Kobine Layama, leader of the country’s Muslims, was offered refuge at St. Paul’s church in Bangui by Nzapalainga after his family was threatened. In the capital’s northern PK5 neighborhood, Muslim youths guarded the St. Mathias Catholic church and protected Christians.
Helen Tofio, one of 40,000 people who fled to Bangui airport to seek safety near a French camp, voiced concern that ongoing tit-for-tat violence would sow the seeds of religious strife.
“We used to live in harmony with Muslims before the arrival of the Seleka,” she said. “But their abuses, and the attitude of some Muslims who seem to be supporting them, have given rise increasingly to religious conflict.”
(Editing by Daniel Flynn and Peter Graff)
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/131226/central-african-republic-conflict-political-not-religious
Over at the Huffington Post, I interview Chris Coyne, professor of economics at George Mason University and author of the recent book Doing Bad By Doing Good: Why Humanitarian Action Fails, on the humanitarian interventions in Central African Republic.
Here’s an excerpt:
Q: What was your reaction to the Obama administration’s decision to increase support to French and African troops in CAR?
Chris Coyne: Given what I know, it is very predictable. For the past several months the U.S. has been pushing back on UN intervention because of the cost of UN peacekeeping missions. I believe the U.S. would have to pay somewhere in the range of 27 percent of the costs of the peacekeeping mission based on the formula the UN uses. This push back occurred despite the fact that violence was already in full effect and well known. So one way to read the U.S. commitment of resources is as a relatively cheap way to placate the growing push for the UN to intervene. Making a lump sum payment to “support” French and African troops is cheaper than paying a percentage of a very costly peacekeeping mission. People keep pointing out how the U.S. has no strategic or economic interests so that this is purely a morally-based assistance. But in my review the push back by the Obama administration over the past several months shows that it is not about some higher moral principle, but responding to political incentives (cost of UN peacekeeping mission vs. lump-sum payment).
Q: This is an extremely limited intervention compared to other recent actions (Balkans, Libya, etc.). What difference might this make?
CC: Well, the U.S. has limited exposure right now. The worst case scenario is that $ 100 million is lost or wasted. In the scheme of things this is not much money and U.S. citizens won’t even know about it. Best case some kind of peace is established and then the U.S. government can take partial credit for supporting the effort. More broadly, beyond the U.S., right now the goal of the intervention seems to be to achieve some semblance of peace. But from everything I have read it isn’t that easy. Like most conflicts similar to this this there are no clear “good” or “bad” sides. Further, both sides have weaponry. So there are no clear victims and criminals. In my view, the worst case would be if mission creep sets in and peacekeeping becomes nation building.
Q: Have humanitarian interventions of this sort worked in the past? What does the record say?
CC: The record is mixed. A big problem with the attempts to “measure” success is that different people have different definitions of success. There is an existing academic literature that looks at peacekeeping missions and judges success based on whether there is a reoccurrence of conflict. In the literature these are referred to as “traditional peacekeeping” missions since they are relatively narrow and not focused on things like nation building, elections, etc.
The empirical literature finds that traditional peacekeeping missions are effective in preventing conflict if they take place after a ceasefire has already been negotiated by the parties involved. “After” is the key word because there is evidence that peacekeeping missions that take place before a ceasefire is negotiated has no effect (or a negative effect). Since there is no preexisting ceasefire in CAR, the existing empirical literature would seem to indicate that achieving sustainable peace will be difficult.
Q: What do you expect to come out of the increasingly interventionist approach from the U.S., France, neighboring African countries, and the international community?
CC: I can only speculate, but I predict continued violence and continued “outrage” by the international community. I believe the UN is calling for a peacekeeping force in the range of 7,000-9,000 troops. Right now there are about 1,600 French troops there. Some humanitarian aid will be delivered but this isn’t surprising — if you spend $ 100 million, some aid is bound to get there, right? More broadly, I expect lots of “discussion” by the “international community” about the need for “political will” to respond not just to the CAR situation, but future situations as well.
Read the whole thing here.
BANGUI
Central African Republic’s President Michel Djotodia sits during a conference in Bangui December 8, 2013.
Credit: Reuters/Herve Serefio
BANGUI (Reuters) – Central African Republic’s interim leader is weighing a possible amnesty for militias involved in Christian-Muslim violence that has killed hundreds of people, most of them civilians, in exchange for their disarmament.
The majority-Christian country has been paralyzed by cycles of killing, torture and looting since Michel Djotodia’s mainly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in March.
Djotodia has since lost control of his former fighters, whose abuses have led to the emergence of militias, known as the anti-balaka, meaning anti-machete in the local Sango language, opposing them.
In a sign of continued instability within the transitional administration, Djotodia dismissed three members government on Sunday, including Security Minister Josue Binoua whose home was raided by police during the violence last week.
More than 1,600 French troops deployed this month to try to stop the violence that has displaced more than 680,000 people – nearly one-seventh of the country’s inhabitants – according to the United Nations.
The former rebel leader said in a state radio address late on Saturday that he had been contacted by a representative of the mainly Christian and animist anti-balaka, who were demanding inclusion in the transitional government he leads.
Elections are due to take place in 2015, however the government in Bangui exerts little control even within the capital.
“The anti-balaka sent us an emissary and said they want to lay down their weapons and leave the bush, but they fear for their security. They gave preconditions … They asked for an amnesty and entrance into government,” Djotodia said.
“Contacts are already established and we will pursue these exchanges in the interest of peace for all Central Africans,” he added. “We don’t see the harm, because this is the price of peace.”
The anti-balaka, along with gunmen loyal to ousted President Francois Bozize, attacked Bangui last week, triggering more killings and reprisals that have deepened inter-religious conflict. More than 500 people were killed and 189,000 have been displaced in the capital alone.
A government spokesman said that Djotodia was not ruling out any of the demands made by the anti-balaka and was planning to reach out to other groups for similar talks – which might also mean the Seleka rebels.
“The president will consider anything that will lead to peace in Central African Republic,” Guy-Simplice Kodegue said.
In a handwritten press statement seen by Reuters on Sunday, an anti-balaka group calling itself the Youth of the Anti-Balaka Revolution called upon its members to observe an immediate ceasefire to give peace talks a chance.
It was unclear how many fighters the group represented.
Rights groups expressed skepticism over whether an agreement with the loosely affiliated militias could bring peace.
“I think the question is whether there is enough structure among the anti-balaka to deliver on promises to lay down arms” said Peter Bouckaert, emergency director at New York-based Human Rights Watch.
MINISTERS FIRED
Central African Republic is rich in diamonds, gold and uranium, but it has seen little stability and, since independence in 1960, France has intervened there more than in any other former colony.
The firing of the three ministers on Sunday risks worsening tensions because it was not carried out under the terms of an accord that led to the formation of the transitional government.
Government spokesman Kodegue said a number of crates of weapons of all calibers and some military material were found at the security minister’s house.
“Minister Binoua always claimed not to have weapons for the gendarmes and police. Where did these arms crates come from?”
Binoua could not immediately be reached for comment.
Finance Minister Christophe Mbremaidou, who Kodegue said had been unreachable during the crisis, was also sacked, along with Rural Development Minister Joseph Bedounga, who was accused of criticizing the government during the violence.
A senior government official, however, told Reuters that Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye had not signed off on the dismissals as required under the terms of the country’s transitional administration.
“He was not even consulted and only heard about it like everyone else over the radio,” the official said, calling Djotodia’s changes to the cabinet “null and void”.
(Additional reporting by Nicholas Vinocur in Paris; Writing by Joe Bavier; Editing by Alison Williams and Mohammad Zargham)
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Global Economy: Surprise tactics sweep central banking
http://currenteconomictrendsandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/17573__?m=02&d=20131110&t=2&i=810650730&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=CBRE9A91E6Z00.jpg
LONDON
A general view of the U.S. Federal Reserve building as the morning sky breaks over Washington, July 31, 2013.
Credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst
LONDON (Reuters) – After slashing interest rates to almost nothing and printing trillions of dollars, central banks are becoming increasingly reliant on another policy weapon: sucker punching markets.
The European Central Bank shocked investors and forecasters last Thursday by cutting its main refinancing rate to a record low, reacting to a shock decline in inflation.
It was the second big central bank surprise in less than two months, after the U.S. Federal Reserve decided in September not to trim its monthly bond purchase stimulus.
And beyond the immediate impact on financial markets, central banks’ shock therapy tactics have also had a lasting effect.
The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury bond — one measure of government borrowing costs — fell sharply in the aftermath of the Fed’s decision, and it shows no signs of revisiting September’s peaks for the year any time soon.
The ECB’s rate cut helped weaken the euro more than 1 percent against the dollar, and most economists polled by Reuters reckon it will put the currency on a firmly lower path from here — huge help for the fragile euro zone recovery. <ECB/INT>
With scant room left to cut interest rates again and appetite for more rounds of money printing waning, economists say surprising markets will increasingly feature in policymaking.
“It makes sense that with the artillery becoming depleted, central banks want more bang for their buck now. One way of doing that is to launch surprises in markets,” said Philip Shaw, chief economist at Investec in London.
“It wouldn’t be a shock if the ECB was pleased that it surprised markets,” he added, noting the ECB managed this without breaking its guidance to keep interest rates low or lower for an extended period of time.
AN OLD TOOL, BUT A GOOD ONE
Jolting markets with an unexpected decision has always been in the central bankers’ toolkit.
Germany’s Bundesbank, for instance, was famed for its sudden moves when it set monetary policy for Europe’s biggest economy in the pre-euro days, said Elwin de Groot, senior market economist at Rabobank in Amsterdam.
But there are good reasons why bolt-from-the-blue policy moves are even more effective today.
“In recent years, the trend in central bank policymaking has been for more transparency, more guidance, and trying not to surprise the market,” said de Groot.
“But occasionally you can surprise, and it works better. It keeps the market sharp; it sends a strong signal to the market that its assumptions were wrong.”
This year has been peppered with such instances.
Back in April, economists expected the Bank of Japan would ease policy — but few dreamed it would unveil a plan to unleash $ 1.4 trillion worth of monetary stimulus into the economy over less than two years.
And wrong-footing markets has become a defining policy tool for the ECB since Mario Draghi became its president.
The ECB cut rates unexpectedly at the first meeting where Draghi was in charge, two years ago this month.
His shock announcement last July that the ECB would take on rising government borrowing costs and do “whatever it takes” to save the euro proved decisive in easing the region’s debt crisis.
It remains to be seen whether Draghi’s incoming counterpart at the Fed, Janet Yellen, will share his penchant for surprise.
Markets might get a better sense of that when the U.S. Senate Banking Committee vets Yellen’s nomination as Fed chairman on Thursday to replace Ben Bernanke, whose term expires on January 31.
In a quiet week for international economic data, focus will also rest on the Bank of England’s quarterly Inflation Report outlook for the UK economy, due on Wednesday, the second since Mark Carney’s appointment as governor.
“What markets will be looking for is where the new forecasts lie, and in particular, where the Monetary Policy Committee views the unemployment rate is going,” said Investec’s Shaw.
The Bank of England left interest rates at record lows on Thursday, but is likely to suggest next week that borrowing costs could rise sooner than it had forecast as the economic recovery gathers pace.
(Reporting by Andy Bruce; Editing by Leslie Adler)
Deutsche Telekom buys GTS Central Europe for 546 million euros
http://currenteconomictrendsandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/4cfee__p-89EKCgBk8MZdE.gif
The logo of Deutsche Telekom is pictured on the 266 metre high ”Colonia” TV tower in the western German city of Cologne March 25, 2013.
Credit: Reuters/Wolfgang Rattay
Hundreds of unexplained sea turtle deaths in Central America alarm scientists
http://isbigbrotherwatchingyou.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/83beb__national_security_agency__Green_sea_turtle.jpg
AFP
November 10, 2013
Green sea turtle, via Wikimedia Commons
Hundreds of sea turtles are washing up dead on the beaches of Central America and scientists don’t know why.
One hypothesis is that the killer is a potent neurotoxin that can be produced by algae during red tides, which are large accumulations of algae that turn sea water red or brown.
The puzzling thing, though, is that red tides have come and gone before without taking such a deadly toll on turtles.
This article was posted: Sunday, November 10, 2013 at 11:19 am
Tags: environment
JERUSALEM – A former head of Argentina’s central bank Mario Blejer has emerged as a top candidate to run the Bank of Israel after two nominees dropped out in an embarrassment to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Blejer, 65, worked in senior positions at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank before a brief stint as president of Argentina’s central bank during the country’s economic crisis in 2002. He stepped down after a disagreement with the economy minister.
Israel’s newspapers said Blejer is Netanyahu’s top candidate but a finance ministry spokeswoman said on Sunday that former Bank of Israel deputy governor Zvi Eckstein, Accountant-General Michal Abadi-Boiangiu and ex-Finance Ministry director-general Victor Medina are also in the running.
The candidates are undergoing a vetting process from a panel that oversees senior civil appointments.
The Haaretz daily reported that Blejer, who received his undergraduate and Master’s degrees at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, arrived in Israel over the weekend to meet Netanyahu.
Stanley Fischer said in January he planned to step down at the end of June after eight years as central bank chief.
Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yair Lapid in late June nominated Jacob Frenkel, who headed the Bank of Israel in the 1990s, to replace Fischer.
Frenkel pulled out after reports that he was arrested on suspicion of shoplifting in Hong Kong’s airport in 2006. The charges were dropped but Frenkel said he withdrew his bid because of a “witch hunt”.
Two days later, Bank Hapoalim chief economist Leo Leiderman was nominated but he pulled out, citing personal reasons. Leiderman has not explained his decision, leaving the media to speculate whether it was because of revelations that he used to consult astrologers or other skeletons in his cupboard.
Netanyahu and Lapid have been criticized for failing to fill the job of central bank governor, raising concerns about Israel’s economic leadership.
Fischer’s deputy, Karnit Flug, is currently acting central bank chief. After being passed over numerous times for the top spot, Flug said she would step down once a new governor is in place.
(Additional reporting by Dan Williams; editing by Anna Willard)
1 of 3. A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, July 29, 2013.
Credit: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton
LONDON |
LONDON (Reuters) – Investors positioned for a strong U.S. jobs report on Friday, balancing the likelihood it will confirm the economy is recovering with wariness it might prompt the Federal Reserve to end its stimulus earlier.
Gold headed for its biggest weekly loss in a month and German bond yields rose. World stocks headed towards two-month highs and Brent oil reached above $ 110 a barrel for the first time since April.
Italian bonds meanwhile braved growing political uncertainty after Italy’s top court upheld a jail sentence against former premier Silvio Berlusconi that could throw the country’s coalition into crisis.
Italian government bond yields were down 3 basis points at 4.34 percent.
The main market focus was on July’s U.S. payrolls report, which is likely to fuel optimism that a recovery is taking hold.
But coming just after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke tried to ease concerns about an imminent tapering of its money-printing stimulus, a strong number could reignite some market volatility.
The prospect of an end to stimulus – which has pumped billions of dollars into world markets – has already battered some assets, notably in emerging markets.
“The data in the U.S. is picking up appreciably at the moment. It’s all pointing to a better (jobs) number today and bond markets should be scared,” said William Hobbs, head of equity strategy at Barclays Wealth.
The payrolls report is forecast to show an increase of 184,000 in jobs outside the farm sector last month and the jobless rate dropping to 7.5 percent from 7.6 percent, according to a Reuters poll. ECONUS
The unemployment rate is closely monitored by the Fed as it gauges when to cut back its $ 85 billion a month bond-buying program.
STIMULUS
The prospect of an end to U.S. stimulus pushed German bond yields up by 3 basis points to 1.7 percent as they kept pace with a rise in U.S. Treasury bond yields, which are now trading near two-year highs.
The dollar extended its gains versus the yen by 0.2 percent to 99.75 yen having surged about 1.7 percent on Thursday for its biggest one-day percentage gain in about four months. The dollar index .DXY was up 0.1 percent at 82.413.
The dollar’s broad strength weighed on gold which slipped to a two-week low and below a key technical level near $ 1,300, on its way to the its worst weekly performance in a month.
In the equity markets, which have welcomed the signs of economic recovery, European shares were on course to reach highs not seen for more than two months, with the broad FTSE Eurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 up 0.15 percent in early trade.
MSCI’s world equity index .MIWD00000PUS was up 0.2 percent, closing in on its highest level since late May. U.S. stock futures pointed to further gains later in the day.
(Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)
No one outside the plant was hurt by the blasts, which began at about 10:30 p.m. local time at the Blue Rhino propane gas filling station in the town of Tavares, about 40 miles (60 km) northwest of Orlando, said John Herrell, a Lake County sheriff’s spokesman.
Fifteen workers out of the two dozen on duty were initially reported missing, but all subsequently were found unscathed, Herrell said. Two others were safe from the outset.
“Obviously it was a very, very dangerous scene” when firefighters arrived, Herrell said.
The chain reaction of explosions, ripping through 20-pound propane cylinders one after another — one tank every few seconds at its peak — unleashed tall columns of flames into the night sky. Homeowners several miles away reported feeling shocks from the explosions.
“We are hearing the booms here inside the restaurant,” said Jessica McClure, 23, a waitress at a Denny’s restaurant 7 miles north of the scene in the town of Eustis.
She said a bright orange glow from the fire was visible in the distance as she arrived at work at about 11 p.m.
What caused the explosions was not immediately known, Herrell said.
He said seven workers were injured.
Three men from the Blue Rhino plant were flown by helicopter to the Orlando Regional Medical Center, all of them in critical condition with burns, Sybrina Childress, a spokeswoman for the trauma center told Reuters.
Lake County emergency dispatchers said homes located within a mile of the facility were ordered to evacuate as a precaution.
Aerial views of the facility from footage shot by a local television station about 90 minutes after the first explosions showed a large fire, apparently being fed by continuing explosions, surrounded by smaller blazes.
After another 30 minutes, the main fire appeared to be dying down, and the wreckage of what appeared to be burned-out trucks could be seen.
Speaking by telephone to local NBC affiliate WESH-TV, former plant supervisor Don Ingram said the company took in propane tanks used for home gas grills, cleaned them, checked the valves and refilled them. He said that tanks were stacked on plastic pallets four and five high behind the filling station.
Herrell said an estimated 53,000 propane cylinders were kept on the property.
He said a late crew typically refills 4,000 to 5,000 tanks overnight. The nearest residential neighborhood is located about a quarter-mile from the facility behind a row of trees, Ingram said.
© 2013 Thomson/Reuters. All rights reserved.
Firefighters stand by near the scene of an explosion at a propane gas company Tuesday, July 30, 2013, in Tavares, Fla. John Herrell of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said early Tuesday that there were no fatalities despite massive blasts that ripped through the Blue Rhino propane plant late Monday night. Seven people were injured and transported to local hospitals. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Firefighters stand by near the scene of an explosion at a propane gas company Tuesday, July 30, 2013, in Tavares, Fla. John Herrell of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said early Tuesday that there were no fatalities despite massive blasts that ripped through the Blue Rhino propane plant late Monday night. Seven people were injured and transported to local hospitals. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Fire crews pour water on a fire after an explosion at the Blue Rhino propane gas company Tuesday, July 30, 2013, in Tavares, Fla. John Herrell of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said early Tuesday that there were no fatalities despite massive blasts that ripped through the Blue Rhino propane plant late Monday night. Seven people were injured and transported to local hospitals. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Law enforcement officers arrive at a command post near the site of an explosion at a propane gas company Tuesday, July 30, 2013, in Tavares, Fla. John Herrell of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said early Tuesday that there were no fatalities despite massive blasts that ripped through the Blue Rhino propane plant late Monday night. Seven people were injured and transported to local hospitals. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Fire crews pour water on a fire after an explosion at the Blue Rhino propane gas company Tuesday, July 30, 2013, in Tavares, Fla. John Herrell of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said early Tuesday that there were no fatalities despite massive blasts that ripped through the Blue Rhino propane plant late Monday night. Seven people were injured and transported to local hospitals. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Fire crews pour water on a fire after an explosion at a propane gas company Tuesday, July 30, 2013, in Tavares, Fla. John Herrell of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said early Tuesday that there were no fatalities despite massive blasts that ripped through the Blue Rhino propane plant late Monday night. Seven people were injured and transported to local hospitals. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
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TAVARES, Fla. (AP) — A series of explosions rocked a central Florida propane gas plant and sent “boom after boom after boom” through the neighborhood around it. Several people were injured, with at least three critically injured.
All the workers at the plant were accounted for early Tuesday after officials initially could not account for more than a dozen employees.
John Herrell of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said there were no fatalities despite massive blasts that ripped through the Blue Rhino propane plant late Monday night.
“Management is comfortable saying all of those they knew were there tonight have been accounted for,” he said.
One person injured in the explosion was listed in critical condition at University of Florida Health Shands Hospital. Two others were listed in critical condition at Orlando Regional Medical Center and a spokeswoman there said a third patient was en route, also listed as critical.
Herrell said some others drove themselves to area hospitals.
The Blue Rhino plant, which is northwest of Orlando, refilled propane tanks typically used for barbecues and other uses.
Herrell said a crew of 24 to 26 people was working at the plant on an overnight shift when the explosions occurred around 11 p.m.
Video footage on WESH-TV in Orlando showed fires burning through trucks used to transport propane tanks, which were parked at the plant. The fire was sending plumes of smoke into the air hours after the blast. Emergency crews could also be seen massing nearby.
Herrell said an evacuation zone was initially a one-mile radius but had been reduced to a half-mile radius. No injuries have been reported from residents in the neighborhood and residents were later allowed to return to their homes.
Marni Whitehead, 33, who lives less than a mile from the plant, said she was in bed ready to go to sleep when she heard a loud boom.
“It was like a car had run into my house, is what I thought had happened,” she said.
She ran outside and saw other neighbors outside and then they saw the explosions.
“We knew right away it was the plant, the propane plant,” Whitehead said. “After that, it was just sort of panic.”
Whitehead likened the explosions to Fourth of July fireworks. “And it was just boom after boom after boom,” she said.
Herrell said officials believe the fire was contained and wouldn’t spread to another part of the plant but they could not guarantee that.
Herrell said the plant usually has 53,000 20-pound propane tanks.
According to the Leesburg Daily Commercial, the plant was built in 2004 and employs fewer than 50 people.
Firefighters stand by near the scene of an explosion at a propane gas company Tuesday, July 30, 2013, in Tavares, Fla. John Herrell of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said early Tuesday that there were no fatalities despite massive blasts that ripped through the Blue Rhino propane plant late Monday night. Seven people were injured and transported to local hospitals. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Firefighters stand by near the scene of an explosion at a propane gas company Tuesday, July 30, 2013, in Tavares, Fla. John Herrell of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said early Tuesday that there were no fatalities despite massive blasts that ripped through the Blue Rhino propane plant late Monday night. Seven people were injured and transported to local hospitals. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Fire crews pour water on a fire after an explosion at the Blue Rhino propane gas company Tuesday, July 30, 2013, in Tavares, Fla. John Herrell of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said early Tuesday that there were no fatalities despite massive blasts that ripped through the Blue Rhino propane plant late Monday night. Seven people were injured and transported to local hospitals. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Law enforcement officers arrive at a command post near the site of an explosion at a propane gas company Tuesday, July 30, 2013, in Tavares, Fla. John Herrell of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said early Tuesday that there were no fatalities despite massive blasts that ripped through the Blue Rhino propane plant late Monday night. Seven people were injured and transported to local hospitals. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Fire crews pour water on a fire after an explosion at the Blue Rhino propane gas company Tuesday, July 30, 2013, in Tavares, Fla. John Herrell of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said early Tuesday that there were no fatalities despite massive blasts that ripped through the Blue Rhino propane plant late Monday night. Seven people were injured and transported to local hospitals. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Fire crews pour water on a fire after an explosion at a propane gas company Tuesday, July 30, 2013, in Tavares, Fla. John Herrell of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said early Tuesday that there were no fatalities despite massive blasts that ripped through the Blue Rhino propane plant late Monday night. Seven people were injured and transported to local hospitals. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
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TAVARES, Fla. (AP) — A series of explosions rocked a central Florida propane gas plant and sent “boom after boom after boom” through the neighborhood around it. Several people were injured, with at least three critically injured.
All the workers at the plant were accounted for early Tuesday after officials initially could not account for more than a dozen employees.
John Herrell of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said there were no fatalities despite massive blasts that ripped through the Blue Rhino propane plant late Monday night.
“Management is comfortable saying all of those they knew were there tonight have been accounted for,” he said.
One person injured in the explosion was listed in critical condition at University of Florida Health Shands Hospital. Two others were listed in critical condition at Orlando Regional Medical Center and a spokeswoman there said a third patient was en route, also listed as critical.
Herrell said some others drove themselves to area hospitals.
The Blue Rhino plant, which is northwest of Orlando, refilled propane tanks typically used for barbecues and other uses.
Herrell said a crew of 24 to 26 people was working at the plant on an overnight shift when the explosions occurred around 11 p.m.
Video footage on WESH-TV in Orlando showed fires burning through trucks used to transport propane tanks, which were parked at the plant. The fire was sending plumes of smoke into the air hours after the blast. Emergency crews could also be seen massing nearby.
Herrell said an evacuation zone was initially a one-mile radius but had been reduced to a half-mile radius. No injuries have been reported from residents in the neighborhood and residents were later allowed to return to their homes.
Marni Whitehead, 33, who lives less than a mile from the plant, said she was in bed ready to go to sleep when she heard a loud boom.
“It was like a car had run into my house, is what I thought had happened,” she said.
She ran outside and saw other neighbors outside and then they saw the explosions.
“We knew right away it was the plant, the propane plant,” Whitehead said. “After that, it was just sort of panic.”
Whitehead likened the explosions to Fourth of July fireworks. “And it was just boom after boom after boom,” she said.
Herrell said officials believe the fire was contained and wouldn’t spread to another part of the plant but they could not guarantee that.
Herrell said the plant usually has 53,000 20-pound propane tanks.
According to the Leesburg Daily Commercial, the plant was built in 2004 and employs fewer than 50 people.
This frame grab from an Associated Press video shows flames from a gas plant explosion in Tavares City, Fla., Monday July 29, 2013. A series of major explosions at has injured several workers and left others missing. The Orlando Sentinel reported Monday night that Tavares City Administrator John Drury said 10 of 24 people working at Blue Rhino, a propane gas plant, have not been accounted for after the blasts. Lake County Sheriff Gary Borders says the blasts occurred inside the plant and blew the roof off. The newspaper reports that the blasts began about 11 p.m. and continued for about an hour. (AP Photo)
This frame grab from an Associated Press video shows flames from a gas plant explosion in Tavares City, Fla., Monday July 29, 2013. A series of major explosions at has injured several workers and left others missing. The Orlando Sentinel reported Monday night that Tavares City Administrator John Drury said 10 of 24 people working at Blue Rhino, a propane gas plant, have not been accounted for after the blasts. Lake County Sheriff Gary Borders says the blasts occurred inside the plant and blew the roof off. The newspaper reports that the blasts began about 11 p.m. and continued for about an hour. (AP Photo)
Map locates Tavares, Fla., where a propane gas plant exploded; 1c x 2 inches; 46.5 mm x 50 mm;
This frame grab provided by WKMG TV shows the fire at the Blue Rhino plant in Tavares City, Fla Tuesday July 30, 2013. A series of major explosions at a Florida gas plant has injured several workers and left others missing. The Orlando Sentinel reported Monday night July 29, 2013, that Tavares City Administrator John Drury said 10 of 24 people working at Blue Rhino, a propane gas plant, have not been accounted for after the blasts. Lake County Sheriff Gary Borders says the blasts occurred inside the plant and blew the roof off. (AP Photo/WKMG TV)
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TAVARES, Fla. (AP) — Massive explosions rocked a central Florida propane gas plant, sending seven people to area hospitals.
All the workers at the plant were accounted for early Tuesday after officials initially could not account for more than a dozen employees.
John Herrell of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said there were no fatalities despite massive blasts that ripped through the Blue Rhino propane plant late Monday night.
“At this point we have no fatalities being reported,” he said. “Management is comfortable saying all of those they knew were there tonight have been accounted for.”
One person injured in the explosion was listed in critical condition at University of Florida Health Shands Hospital. Two others were listed in critical condition at Orlando Regional Medical Center and a spokeswoman there said a third patient was en route, also listed as critical.
Herrell said some others drove themselves to area hospitals.
The Blue Rhino plant refilled propane tanks typically used for barbecues and other uses.
Herrell said a crew of 24 to 26 people was working at the plant on an overnight shift when the explosions occurred around 11 p.m.
Video footage on WESH-TV in Orlando showed fires burning through trucks used to transport propane tanks, which were parked at the plant. The fire was sending plumes of smoke into the air hours after the blast. Emergency crews could also be seen massing nearby.
Herrell said an evacuation zone was initially a one-mile radius but had been reduced to a half-mile radius. No injuries have been reported from residents in the neighborhood and residents were later allowed to return to their homes.
Marni Whitehead, 33, who lives less than a mile from the plant, said she was in bed ready to go to sleep when she heard a loud boom.
“It was like a car had run into my house, is what I thought had happened,” she said.
She ran outside and saw other neighbors outside and then they saw the explosions.
“We knew right away it was the plant, the propane plant,” Whitehead said. “After that, it was just sort of panic.”
Whitehead likened the explosions to Fourth of July fireworks. “And it was just boom after boom after boom,” she said.
Herrell said officials believe the fire was contained and wouldn’t spread to another part of the plant but they could not guarantee that.
Herrell said the plant usually has 53,000 20-pound propane tanks.
According to the Leesburg Daily Commercial, the plant was built in 2004 and employs fewer than 50 people.
