FIFA sorry for Crimea video blunder | ||
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Geneva (AFP) - FIFA has apologised for an embarrassing diplomatic faux-pas when its video launching the 2018 World Cup logo portrayed the Crimean peninsula as part of Russia. The disputed clip was beamed on to the facade of Russia's historic Bolshoi Theatre at the official unveiling of the 2018 logo in the Russian capital on Tuesday. The strategic peninsula of Crimea, long home to Russian military bases, was annexed from Ukraine by Russia in March, sparking the worst crisis between Russia and the West since the Cold War. World football's governing body issued a statement blaming the blunder on a local video production agency. "Unfortunately the map of Russia selected and used during the projection by the local service provider escaped our attention and the short sequence in question has been removed," a FIFA spokesman said. The slip-up came at a sensitive time with FIFA trying to find a solution to the Crimea club crisis. Russia has incorporated teams based in Crimea in its third division, a move hotly disputed by the Ukrainian football federation. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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The War Is Over: Samsung Has Finally Capitulated To Apple — As These Two Phones Launched Last Night Show (AAPL) | ||
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The end of the war was dramatic, although it was months coming: Samsung reported a staggering 20% drop in sales and an even worse 49% collapse in its profits because its flagship Galaxy S5 phone — one of those big Android phablets — just failed to sell in the last quarter. The reason: Consumers held off buying them because Apple launched its new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus phones in September, in big-screen sizes that competed directly with the Galaxy S5 and the Galaxy Note 3 and 4, Samsung's other giant-size high-end models, the Financial Times says. Now, Samsung has capitulated. It launched two phones last night, the Galaxy A3 and A5, which are both "mid-range" devices with metal bodies. They look a bit like iPhones, but they'll probably be priced cheaper. It's the price that is key: Samsung is basically saying it cannot compete against iPhone on high-end prices with top-flight models, so it must compete instead against cheaper low-end Android manufacturers like China's Xiaomi by offering quality devices at reasonable prices. It might be good business, but it's humiliating for Samsung. They're probably delighted over at Apple, too. For years, Apple stayed away from the big-screen phone category, apparently in the belief — as founder Steve Jobs once said — that Apple's small 3.5-inch and 4-inch iPhones were just the right size for consumers because they could use them with one hand. That was Apple's big mistake: Consumers did want big phones, and Apple basically ceded two years or more of big-screen sales to Samsung. In 2013, Apple finally realised that big screens were driving growth in phone sales. And in September this year it launched two phones to address that. That move appears to have killed off much of the demand for Samsung's big phones. Samsung execs admitted it on their earnings call, per the Financial Times: “Our high-end smartphone sales result was somewhat weak,” Kim Hyun-joon, a senior executive at the IT & mobile division, told analysts on a conference call. Samsung's problem now is that it's being squeezed in the middle. The company has a huge range of cheap, low-end Android phones that it sells a lot of (as free wireless contract upgrade phones, for instance) but makes very little money on. Chinese Android manufacturers have been gutting that business by making super-cheap Androids that are actually nicely designed and quite good. Xiaomi is probably the most fascinating phone company on the planet right now, with its unbelievable cheap Androids that have superior design. Western consumers will be shocked to know that Xiaomi is now the third largest phone manufacturer by shipment volume worldwide — and it hasn't even started selling phones here yet! Xiaomi stole Samsung's low-end business, in other words, while Samsung was trying to solidify its lead as the high-end big screen leader. Now it looks like Samsung is mostly abandoning the high-end war to Apple. It will probably continue to supply its flagship Galaxy S5 and Note 4 phones (they're great phones by the way, I've tried them both and prefer them to iPhone). But Samsung's new fight must now be based on price and quality in the Android market, not the iPhone market. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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The Russian Central Bank Raises Rates In A Desperate Effort To Halt Ruble Declines | ||
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The Russian central bank raised rates by 150 basis points to 9.5% in a gamble that higher rates will halt the ruble's slide against the dollar and the euro. The bank's board decided to raise rates despite a weak economy after the ruble hit historic lows against the dollar and the euro this month. Over October the central bank burned through more than $15 billion of Russia's foreign exchange reserves buying rubles in an effort to soften the impact of falls on the country's businesses. Since the start of the year the country's international reserve stockpile has dropped over $30 billion from $469.5 billion to $439.1 billion. By raising interest rates the central bank is effectively wagering that the positive impact of stabilizing the currency and looking tough on inflation (which is currently running at 8%) will outweigh the potential economic hit of raising the cost of capital in an already sluggish economy. The IMF forecasts growth in Russia of a meager 0.2% this year as international sanctions over Ukraine and falling oil prices weigh on activity. Announcing its decision the central bank acknowledged that price pressure have diverged from the underlying economy meaning further rate hikes may be necessary despite evidence of economic slack (emphasis added): According to the Bank of Russia estimates, annual GDP growth rate in 2014 Q3 was 0.2%. Economic slack does not have considerable restraining effect on consumer prices increase as it is mostly caused by structural factors...Consumer prices growth is very likely to persist at the current level till the end of Q1 2015 due to remaining sizeable impact of restrictions on the import of certain food items and ruble depreciation in August-October 2014 on prices. SEE ALSO: The Bizarre Story Behind Thursday's Sudden Ruble Rally Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Younis leads Pakistan charge against sloppy Australia | ||
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Abu Dhabi (AFP) - Younis Khan continued to dominate sloppy Australia as Pakistan reached 405-3 at lunch on the second day of the second and final Test in Abu Dhabi on Friday. Younis furthered his third consecutive century in as many innings and was unbeaten on 141 and with him skipper Misbah-ul Haq on an aggressive 55 as Pakistan continued to bat solidly against a hapless Australian attack. That raised Pakistan's chances of winning their first series against Australia in 20 years after they won the first Test by 221 runs in Dubai. Younis added another 73 runs for the fourth wicket with Misbah after Pakistan resumed at 304-2 and added 101 in an extended two-and-a-half hours session due to Friday prayers. Younis added 236 with Azhar Ali (109) which erased the previous highest third wicket stand against Australia of 223 held by Javed Miandad and Taslim Arif from a 1980 match in Faisalabad, Pakistan. Younis has so far hit eleven boundaries and a six during his 244-ball knock. Australia had another unusual sloppy day in the field as David Warner failed to hold a sharp chance at point from Younis's push off paceman Mitchell Johnson in the third over of the day. Younis was then batting on 112. Nine runs later Younis edged a Peter Siddle delivery which fell short of Brad Haddin who hurt his right shoulder in an attempt to hold the catch. Haddin had to walk off the field and Warner, who replace him behind the stumps, spurned a stumping chance off spinner Nathan Lyon as Younis was well out of his crease on 125. But Warner made amends as he took a good catch off Ali's glance off paceman Mitchell Starc for a consolation wicket. Ali's 250-ball knock had six boundaries. Misbah, playing his 50th Test, took the attack to the Australian bowlers with a second-ball six off Lyon and reached his 27th half-century with his sixth boundary, taking just 76 balls. Johnson, Starc and Lyon have one wicket apiece.
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Europe Is Still At Risk Despite A Jump In Inflation | ||
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The eurozone's inflation just rose to 0.4%, from 0.3%. Unemployment stayed flat at an eye-watering 11.5%. On inflation, analysts were expecting the slight climb to 0.4%. That might be a signal that Europe isn't heading into a deflationary spiral, but the figure is still far below the European Central Bank's 2% target, and it is likely to be very low for a long time. And it's not all good news on inflation: The eurozone's measure of core inflation, which strips out the most volatile prices in the index, is still falling. It's down to 0.7% from 0.8% in September. That's the joint-lowest level in the currency union's history. So while it has some room to breathe, the ECB isn't off the hook yet. Capital Economics' Jennifer McKeown explains in a note: The combination of falling production costs and weak demand could certainly see this rate fall even further in the coming months. Meanwhile, with other data today confirming that the eurozone unemployment rate held at 11.5%, there is no inflationary pressure coming from the labour market. In all, while the ECB feels that governments must play a bigger role in strengthening demand, the central bank will remain under pressure to do more to tackle the threat of deflation. Analysts weren't expecting a change in the unemployment figure. It has slowly declined from 12% earlier this year. However, Italian unemployment figures just out showed an unexpected spike to 12.5% from 12.3%. SEE ALSO: German Retail Sales Fall Through The Floor Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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European Markets Are Surging Higher | ||
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European stocks are all climbing Friday morning, after a big Asian boost following Japan's unexpected decision to extend its quantitative easing program. Here's the scorecard: France's CAC 40 is up 2.02% Spain's IBEX is up 1.74% Italy's FTSE MIB is up 1.78% Britain's FTSE 100 is up 1.15% Germany's DAX is up 1.60% Asian markets saw a massive rally. The Nikkei closed up 4.83%. The Hang Seng closed up 1.25%. US futures are climbing too: The S&P is up 16.75 points and the Dow is up 149 points. This morning, we've already had some terrible retail sales figures for Germany: with a 3.2% drop in September, they are the worst since 2007. European inflation data just released showed a small rise, up to 0.4% in October. That's one month of room to breathe for the European Central Bank, a small step away from deflation. At 8:30 a.m. ET from the US, personal spending data is out. Analysts are expecting a 0.3% boost to personal income and a 0.1% boost to spending for September. This post was updated at 06:30 a.m. ET. SEE ALSO: The 10 Most Important Things In The World Right Now Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Eurozone inflation up, unemployment steady: Eurostat | ||
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Brussels (AFP) - Eurozone inflation has come off multi-year lows while the jobless figures are little changed, official data showed on Friday, providing only limited reassurance that a modest economic recovery remains on track. Inflation in the 18-nation eurozone rose to 0.4 percent in October from 0.3 percent in September, which was the lowest in five years, the Eurostat statistics agency said. The unemployment rate in September was 11.5 percent, unchanged compared with August. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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The UK Government Plans To Pay Off $349 Million Of Debt That Stretches Back To The 18th Century | ||
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The UK Treasury has announced plans to buy back £218 million ($349 million) of loans first issued by Winston Churchill in 1927, when he was Chancellor. The majority of the bonds being redeemed were issued to refinance debt taken on during the First World War. However, some of the debt goes back even further — with part of the borrowing pre-dating the signing of the US Declaration of Independence. Also included in the government buyback are: loans originally taken out to cover losses from the collapse of the South Sea Company in 1720, debt taken on to fund Britain's fight against Napoléon Bonaparte, and some that helped finance the Slavery Abolition Act of 1835. These loans are unusual because they were issued as perpetual bonds. This means that they payed out interest but have no maturity date, in effect making them more like owning a stock that pays a dividend than a traditional bond. The government has the right but no obligation to pay off the debt. So why have they done it now? The Debt Management Office estimates that the UK has paid £1.26 billion ($2 billion) in total interest on these bonds since 1927 and, with a yield of 4%, these bonds were paying a much higher interest rate than the government would have to pay if it raised the same amount of money now. For example, the yield on the 30-year UK government bonds is currently 2.96%. As Toby Nangle, head of multi-asset investment at Threadneedle, wrote in the FT earlier this month: And so the £1.93bn 3.5 per cent 90-day callable perpetual bond issue could be redeemed and replaced with a £1.63bn 3.5 per cent 30-year callable perpetual bond delivering a no-brainer £300m debt reduction to the taxpayer and an associated £9m per annum saving in interest costs (in perpetuity). Alternatively the same savings could be delivered by refinancing the War Loan into the large and liquid 30-50 year part of the conventional Gilt market. Value of the call to the UK taxpayer using Market rates as of 2nd October: £300m. SEE ALSO: Here Are The Impossible Cuts The Next UK Government Will Be Forced To Make Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Foreign jihadists flock to Iraq, Syria on 'unprecedented scale': UN | ||
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London (AFP) - Jihadists from more than 80 countries have flocked to fight in Iraq and Syria on an "unprecedented scale", according to extracts of a UN report published by Britain's Guardian newspaper on Friday. Around 15,000 people have travelled to fight alongside Islamic State (IS) and other hardcore militant groups from "countries that have not previously faced challenges relating to al-Qaeda," said the report. The number of foreign jihadists travelling to fight since 2010 exceeds the cumulative total of the 20 preceding years "many times", added the Security Council study. "There are instances of foreign terrorist fighters from France, the Russian Federation and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland operating together," it said, according to the Guardian. Britain's top police officer, Bernard Hogan-Howe, estimated last week that five people a week were leaving the country to fight with IS. Security officials estimate that there are currently around 500 British nationals fighting in Syria and Iraq. The UN warned that more nations than ever face the problem of dealing with fighters returning from the battle zone. The report was produced by a committee that monitors al-Qaeda, and concluded that the once mighty and feared group was now "maneuvering for relevance" following the rise of the even more militant IS, which was booted out of al-Qaeda by leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. Despite the split, the UN concluded that the legal basis for US President Barack Obama's fight against IS was justified by its ideological congruence with al-Qaeda, and considered the two groups as part of a broader movement. "Al-Qaeda core and Isil (IS) pursue similar strategic goals, albeit with tactical differences regarding sequencing and substantive differences about personal leadership," the UN wrote. Obama has vowed he will not order a large force into combat in Iraq or Syria, relying instead on air power and local forces. But his "no boots on the ground" pledge is coming under pressure amid growing calls for advisers and forward air controllers to deploy with Iraqi or Kurdish soldiers to help direct air raids and plan operations. The IS group's "cosmopolitan" use of social media, "as when extremists post kitten photographs", was attracting a new breed of foreign fighters who are put off by the more dogmatic communication tactics of al-Qaeda, said the report. IS leaders recognise "the terror and recruitment value of multichannel, multi-language social and other media messaging," it added. The UN agreed with the Obama administration that "core al-Qaeda remains weak", but argued that its demise had only paved the way for more bloody groups, for whom "cross-border attacks – or attacks against international targets – remain a minority." Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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