Toyota is set to announce a series of incentives to win back American car-buyers following a series of product recalls for safety reasons, according to Reuters, which says the programme will be unveiled Tuesday 2 March and run for a month. It includes offering consumers zero percent financing on some new car models and two years of service with few charges for returning customers.
Links to other sites: MSNBC, Toyota USA
Vancouver, Canada (GenevaLunch) - Canada celebrated a famous victory as they beat the USA 3-2 in the final to take gold. Canada scored once in the first period. In the second period the Americans could not take advantage of their first powerplay advantage and conceded a second goal shortly afterwards. Ryan Kesler scored for the USA with seven minutes left of the second period. Canada twice hit the frame early in the third period and dominated most of the play but were kept out by US goalie Ryan Miller.
Vancouver, Canada (GenevaLunch) - Canada started the Vancouver Olympics with an unfortunate record: the only country to have hosted the Olympics without winning a gold medal. The 2010 team have changed all that, currently heading the gold medal table with 13, ahead of Germany’s ten and nine for the USA. Switzerland lies sixth with six gold and three bronze medals. In a fit of political correctness the Vancouver 2010 site lists countries firstly by the total number of medals, implying all are equal, and puts the USA at the top.
Vancouver, Canada (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss hockey team ended their Olympic adventure with another narrow defeat to the USA. They were one goal down going into the final few minutes but then conceded a second after taking off their goaltender while searching for an equalizer. The US team now enter the semi-finals.
Links to other sites: TSR (Fre), Vancouver 2010
Andrew Joseph Stack, 53, appears to have flown his Piper Cherokee plane into an IRS (tax authority) building in Austin, Texas intentionally, say authorities in the city, after setting his house on fire 18 February. Two people died in the crash into a building where 200 people work, and two others were injured. Firefighters had contained most of a fire started by the crash but were working during the night to put it out completely. Stack’s web site appears to reflect a long-held grudge against the US government and the IRS in particular.
Cadbury, the independent British chocolate maker, will take on an American flavour, news that sent its shares up by 3 percent Tuesday morning 19 January. The company announced that it has accepted US multinational Kraft’s takeover bid, which has been opposed by British Business Secretary Peter Mandelson. The final details, including the price paid, will be released shortly, the companies said in a joint announcement. The Financial Times reports that the deal could be worth £11.7bn ($19bn). Mandelson has voiced concerns that the US company wanted to make a “fast buck” from Cadbury’s, and unions have expressed fear that jobs will be lost. Cadbury employs 45,000 people worldwide, including staff at a Swiss site in Rolle, canton Vaud.
Links to other sites: Financial Times, Times, UK
(Video, AP) An extraordinary high-definition video of the world’s deepest submarine volcano shows an underwater eruption sending volcanic lava to the ocean floor and creating an environment that is more acidic than battery acid. The film was presented at a conference in San Francisco Thursday by the US National Science Foundation and the NOAA. The film was made near Samoa when scientists headed for the area where they’d spotted volcanic activity, then sent a submersible named Jason down to 1,300 metres under the surface to film the fireworks.
Links to other sites: AP/Daily Breeze, BBC, NOAA News with the video in QuickTime
AP interview with video in background
Photo: World Trade Organizaion 2 December 2009
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - In a highly publicized event, its opening marred by street violence, the Seventh Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) has brought together government officials from 153 countries in Geneva for three days to discuss trade.
On the other side of town, delegations of experts on foreign policy, military affairs and arms control from Russia and the US are meeting to hammer out the details of a treaty that will reduce their countries’ nuclear arsenals.
For a world with more trade
Trade ministers from the WTO’s 153 member countries have been meeting in Geneva for their biennial conference amidst the worst recession in 80 years, with trade volumes down more than 10 percent in 2009 compared to last year, according to WTO figures.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The United States heads into the Cartagena Summit, which opens Sunday 29 November in Colombia, now saying that it is continuing to review its policy on signing the international Mine Ban treaty. The US is sending a sizeable official observer team to the summit, with groups from the State Department, Pentagon, US Agency for International Development and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Cartagena Summit is the second review of the 1997 Ottawa Convention that bans the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of antipersonnel mines. More than 1,000 delegates, including several heads of state, will participate in the summit, which will assess progress made in clearing the world of landmines.
Cause of US shift unexplained
The US said in a statement issued Wednesday 25 November that it is still reviewing its position on signing the 10-year-old Mine Ban treaty – the opposite of what it said the previous day, but it was unclear if the statement was a correction of an error, a change in tactics ahead of the Cartagena Summit that opens 29 November in Colombia, or a change of heart following harsh criticism.
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Miami offshoot of the Basel Art fair has since 2002 been a place where wealthy clients and would-be customers of Swiss bank UBS could expect to be lavishly wined and dined in carpeted tents. The bank is the main sponsor of the US version of the contemporary art show in Switzerland, of which it is the sole sponsor. This year UBS has canceled what Bloomberg regards as its signature extravaganza event.
North and South Korea navy ships have exchanged fire along the countries’ disputed Western maritime border. The Northern vessel was reportedly hit by gunfire, and one North Korean was killed, and three injured, after it crossed a demaracation line Tuesday, 10 November, say several reports in Seoul, South Korea. CNN, Los Angeles Times.
Colombia may make a complaint to the United Nations and the Organization of American States, following Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’ call Sunday, 8 November for his country to prepare for war, and prepare the people for war. Chavez has been irritated by Colombia’s newly signed bases agreement with the USA, which will allow a US military presence in Colombia. Chavez says that this is a preparation for an invasion of Venezuela. CNN, Reuters India.
China says it has executed nine people involved in the deadly rioting in Urumqi, in China’s Xinjiang province last July. The US urged China to ensure that detentions and judicial processes be handled “in a transparent manner”, according to US State Department spokesman, Ian Kelly. AFP, New York Times
A US federal court has ruled that Virginia failed to mail overseas ballots on time for voters to be able to participate in the 4 November 2008 general election. States are responsible for establishing voting rules and registering voters but they must comply with federal law and send ballots for federal elections at least 30 days ahead to overseas military and other US citizens abroad. Overseas lobbying groups such as American Citizens Abroad, which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, have been fighting to ensure that US citizens who live outside the country are able to vote easily.
Links to other sites: American Citizens Abroad, US Justice Department office of public affairs
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A retired sales manager at Boeing in Seattle, Washington, USA, is the eighth person to admit he held accounts at Swiss bank UBS to evade the US tax system. The US Justice Department announced Monday 5 October that Roberto Cittadini of Bellevue, Washington has pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns and to hiding $1.8 million from the IRS, the US tax authority. The department’s detailed press release notes that Cittadini was helped by a Swiss banker and Swiss accountant, both of whom were indicted for fraud in the US in August 2009.
US President Barack Obama chaired a UN Security Council meeting 24 September at which the council unanimously approved a US-drafted resolution calling for concrete steps to be taken towards ridding the world of nuclear weapons. The resolution calls on the declared nuclear powers to cut back their arsenals and to share the peaceful benefits of nuclear power with other nations, while cracking down on proliferation of nuclear materials and know-how.
The US is set to begin new talks with Russia on reducing their nuclear arsenals to replace the 1980s-era Start treaty. Obama says he will ask the Senate to ratify the comprehensive test ban treaty, which the US has signed but not ratified.
The nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) which is the basis for the peaceful use of nuclear power, comes up for review next year, and may be strengthened. BBC, Miami Herald
The G20 group of the world’s largest economies has a large menu to work through when it meets Thursday and Friday in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the US, with changes to the banking world heading the list. The debate over limiting bankers’ bonuses continues from their last meeting earlier this year: the group will, according to the Wall Street Journal, decide ” how draconian the restrictions on banker compensation should be.” Brazil will be suggesting that bank regulation should be tightened and that recent changes to bank capitalization should be extended to include derivatives markets, referring to the Basel II agreement that have recently gone into effect, which are designed to help avoid the kind of global banking meltdown seen in 2008. US President Barack Obama faces a second major international test in less than a week, after the UN General Assembly, convincing G20 leaders that the buzz words “sustainable” and “balanced” are the keys to getting the world economy back on track, according to AP/NPR. Financial Times (subscription), Forbes/Reuters, MSNBC news roundup
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland is expected to sign a new double taxation agreement with the US Wednesday 23 September, Urs Kapalle of the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) told a group in Geneva Tuesday evening. The federal government has indicated the signing could be soon, without specifying a date.
The company responsible for city parking meters in Chicago, USA is giving away up to two free minutes of parking time to dispel growing outrage at time discrepancies that have resulted in parking fines. The operator, LAZ Parking, says it is recalibrating its 2,200 “pay and display” parking meters because Chicago’s car-owners were being short-changed by inaccurate meters. And the company says it is rounding up to the nearest minute and adding an extra minute of time to the display tickets. The company says its meters are calibrated each night with an atomic clock. Some experts dispute that.
The city of Chicago privatized the parking meters in December 2008. In exchange for $1.2 billion, the city signed a 75-year lease with LAZ Parking. The price of parking jumped, and now costs $3.50 an hour in central Chicago. Furious drivers have stopped paying, or park in side streets, or have vandalized the parking meters. Chicago Reader, Chicago Sun-Times
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev strongly criticized, but did not name, the US for its domestic policies which tipped the world to the brink of financial melt-down, in a speech 14 September. “Last year, we witnessed how one country’s ill-conceived financial policies became the reason for a global financial crisis, whose effects every country. . . feels today”, he said at a conference in Yaroslavl, Russia, organized by the Kremlin. Some observers believe the speech was an attempt by Medvedev to distinguish himself from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who jokingly hinted at the same meeting that he may stand for re-election as president in 2012. Putin was president until 2008, and hand-picked Medvedev to succeed him.
Medvedev is expected in New York in the next few days to address the 64th session of the UN General Assembly, which opens 15 September. He is scheduled to take part in the G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 24 and 25 September, and he will visit Switzerland on a state visit 20 and 21 September. Moscow Times, Reuters
The AMA (American Medical Association), long one of the most important lobbying groups in the US, is putting its support behind President Obama’s overhaul of the healthcare system, a major about-face for the group that represents many doctors in the US. For the past 60 years it has staunchly opposed any “any government overhaul of healthcare”, according to the Los Angeles Times, which quotes Dr Nancy Nielsen, the immediate past president of the AMA, as saying that “Doctors are really, really discouraged now about people not getting access to medical care,” but critics view the situation more cynically, saying the group was bought off with deals that will protect doctors’ incomes. Reuters, Washington Post
Apple CEO Steve Jobs returned to the limelight 8 September at the annual Apple conference in San Francisco after almost a year’s absence due to medical leave to have a liver transplant. He thanked his anonymous donor, a “mid-twenties year-old” car crash victim, for his generosity and urged everyone to become an organ donor. Looking thin and frail, Jobs reported that Apple had sold 30 million iPhones in little over two years. He also announced software improvements to the iPod Nano, new features at iTunes, and price cuts in the products. Jobs received a standing ovation. Apple shares reached a 52 week high of $172.93 the same day, but dropped back one percent at closing. Businessweek, CNET, MSNBC, Reuters
British oil company BP says it has discovered a new oil field, the largest find in recent years, some 250 miles southeast of Houston, Texas in the Gulf of Mexico. The company believes it has at least 3 billion barrels of oil. Financial Times, Guardian, Wikipedia
The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) mistakenly sent out more than 600 letters to veterans informing them they had Lou Gehrig’s disease, a neurodegenerative disease, when in fact they did not. Because of a “coding error” the letters were sent to veterans who do not have the disease. The VA said it would apologize and reimburse expenses incurred by some of the veterans when they sought a second opinion from a doctor outside the VA. Chicago Tribune/AP, CNN
The world’s central bankers met in the US resort of Jackson Hole, Wyoming over the weekend and appear to have no immediate plans to move interest rates. Better economic data and livelier stock markets aside, the bankers have been saying in private and public they are content to leave interest rates very low, without fear of inflation, according Bloomberg and the Financial Times. The Group of 20 largest economies in the world will meet late September in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the US to discuss how to avert future financial crises.
A Miami, Florida man and two unnamed other men were indicted by US federal authorities in what is being called the largest case of credit card theft ever. Albert Gonzalez and the two other men, said to be Russians, allegedly hacked into computers at Heartland Payment Systems, a credit card payment processor, and stole credit and debit card details from 130 million customers. They also obtained information from 7-Eleven stores and another supermarket chain, Hannaford Bros. Gonzalez is in prison on other, related charges. Last year, Gonzalez was recruited as an informant by the US Secret Service which was investigating an international hacker gang called the Shadowcrew. Authorities subsequently realized that Gonzalez was involved in the criminal activity. Bloomberg, Miami Herald, Reuters
A helicopter and small Piper plane collided in mid-air over the Hudson River between Hoboken, New Jersey and Manhattan, New York, in the US Saturday, presumably killing all nine people aboard, although so far only two bodies have been found. Five Italian tourists were in the helicopter, touring the area. New York Times, Reuters
