Czech rightwing party proposes woman for PM June 19, 2013 - The Czech right-wing Civic Democrats (ODS)

party on Wednesday proposed parliament speaker Miroslava Nemcova for the post of Prime Minister following the resignation of Petr Necas amid a graft scandal. It was approved by coalition partners, President Milos Zeman and the parliament. Nemcova, 60, will become the first woman in history to head the Czech government in history. Necas, heading the faltering coalition government since July 2010, stepped down on Sunday over a bribery and spying scandal involving his top aide and alleged lover. His ODS party has said it will choose a candidate to lead a government built around the current three-party coalition also comprising the right-wing TOP 09 and centrist LIDEM parties until the next regular elections in May 2014. Josef Mlejnek, a political analyst at Charles University in Prague, told AFP Nemcova would be rather something like an interim prime minister heading a sort of a caretaker government... as her position within her party is not too strong. The graft scandal that toppled Necas erupted last Thursday when 400 policemen raided the cabinet office, defence ministry, private villas and a bank in a dramatic swoop that turned up large stashes of illicit cash and gold. Jana Nagyova, Necas's chief of staff and alleged lover, was arrested during the raid and charged with bribery and complicity in the abuse of power. Seven other senior figures including military intelligence heads and former lawmakers were also charged with corruption and abuse of power. Dubbed Mr. Clean for his high-profile anti-corruption drive, Necas was forced to resign on Monday. If the ODS candidate is not approved, the country would likely face early elections which the left-wing Social Democrats would win according to opinion polls, sweeping the ODS and their allies out of power. An EU member of 10.5 million people, the Czech Republic has been plagued by corruption since it emerged as an independent state after its 1993 split with Slovakia -- a legacy of four decades of totalitarian communist rule. Last year, corruption watchdog Transparency International ranked the Czech Republic worse than Costa Rica and Rwanda.

Yamuna flowing 2 metres above danger mark in Delhi New Delhi, Jun 19: Several low-lying areas along the Yamuna were today flooded as the water level in the river was flowing two metres above the danger mark and inching towards touching the highest level of 207.49 m. The water level in the river rose to 207.12 m which is 2.29 m above the danger mark of 204.83 m. The water level is likely to go up further, a senior official of the Flood Control department said. The highest water level of 207.49 m in Yamuna was recorded in 1978 when several areas in the city witnessed flash floods. The city government has asked the army to be on alert for helping the civil administration, if required. The river had crossed the danger level of 204.83 m yesterday morning, prompting authorities to evacuate around 2,000 people from various low-lying areas in east Delhi like Usmanpur, Yamuna Bazar, Bhajanpura and Shastri Park and set up relief camps for their shelter. Officials said the water level is likely to go up further as Haryana released over 81,000 cusecs of water into Yamuna from the Hathnikund barrage today. The neighbouring state had released eight lakh cusecs of water on Monday and 1.5 lakh cusecs yesterday. They said some low-lying areas near the river, including Garhi Mandu, Usmanpur Pusta and Jagatpur village were inundated by Yamuna waters. In the past 40 years, the city had witnessed floods in 1967, 1971, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1988, 1995 and 1998. The authorities have set up over 400 tents in four districts, including 240 in East, 100 in Southeast, 50 in Central and 30 in Northeast of the state to accommodate the affected people. The 145-year-old Old Yamuna Bridge connecting east Delhi with the heart of the national capital, was shut for rail and road traffic yesterday after the water level in Yamuna rose dangerously.

Gold edges higher ahead of Fed policy statement Gold edged higher on Wednesday as stock markets retreated ahead of a Federal Reserve policy statement but uncertainty over the future of U.S. central bank's quantitative easing programme kept it in a narrow range. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said last month the bank could scale back its $85 billion monthly bond purchases if the U.S. economy strengthen but a lack of clarity on the timing has unsettled markets. Policymakers are likely announce later that they will keep buying bonds at the same rate while keeping their options open to scale back the programme later this year if the U.S. labour market continues to improve. Spot gold was at $1371.99 an ounce at 1148 GMT up 0.3 percent while U.S. gold futures for August delivery were up $4.60 an ounce at $1''371.50. Gold broke below its recent trading range on Tuesday to slide 1.2 percent'' its biggest one-day loss in nearly two weeks."Bottom line' we expect no tapering on the basis that current economic data don't support such a move Saxo Bank vice president Ole Hansen said. But the Fed is now responsible for market regulation and stability and the sell-off in bonds over the past months may have rattled them a bit. Ahead of (the Fed) I see gold potentially retracing some of its losses from yesterday' he added The statement is still likely to highlight recent improvements in the labour market' potentially once again suggesting a gradual reduction to the QE3 pace in the very near future VTB Capital said in a note. Any hints at this time frame will be one of the most eagerly awaited insights for the currency markets and eventually for gold. Demand in India and China the top two gold consumers remained sluggish as demand eased from peak levels seen in April and May. Shanghai gold futures fell more than 1 percent while Indian gold futures edged lower. Holdings of the SPDR Gold Trust the largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund fell 0.2 percent to 1''001.67 tonnes on Tuesday their lowest in more than four years. Among other precious metals'' silver was up 0.6 percent at $21.76 an ounce while spot platinum was flat at $1''439.49 an ounce and spot palladium was down 0.4 percent at $705.47 an ounce. Platinum and palladium have underperformed this month to fall 1.5 percent and 5.5 percent respectively although palladium remains the best performer of the major precious metals this year. Industrial interest has somewhat helped to protect the downside in but with the entire precious metals complex under pressure at the moment. Prospects for a recovery in the near term appear limited for now UBS said in a note. Yet despite the correction underlying sentiment towards PGMs has not soured. In a sense the washout has actually been welcomed and is deemed healthy it added

Suicide bomber, gunmen attack UN office in Somalia

MOGADISHU, June 19 (Reuters) - A suicide bomber and several gunmen attacked a United Nations compound in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Wednesday in a strike that bore the hallmarks of al Qaeda-linked militants. The bomber set off his explosives outside the gate of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) base before attackers ran inside and opened fire on security guards'' a senior police official told Reuters. Gunfire could still be heard more than 30 minutes after the initial explosion. It was not immediately clear whether any U.N. officials were caught up in the gun battle or whether there were any casualities. U.N. agencies have only recently started building up their offices and international staff inside Somalia after a period of relative improvements in security. African Union forces and government troops drove Islamist al Shabaab rebels out of the coastal capital almost two years ago but the militants have kept up guerrilla-style attacks from rural bases.

Growth necessary to boost economy State-run Andhra Bank's chairman and managing director B. A. Prabhakar today attributed the stress on banks' asset quality to gloom on the economic front and said it would improve only when growth revives. The entire banking sector in the country is now facing non-performing assets (NPA)-related problems due to the slowdown in the economy for the last 3-4 years, Prabhakar said at a bank function here. He specifically cited infrastructure as a trouble spot which he said is hurting the banking sector. Andhra Bank's gross non-performing assets for the quarter ended March 31 stood at 3.71 per cent. Prabhakar, who was in the coastal city for the function, said the banking sector's NPA issues will be sorted out only with a revival on the economic front. Indian banks' gross non-performing assets climbed up to 3.3 per cent in March 2013, according to the rating agency Icra. The private banks were better performers on the NPA-management front as compared to the state-run ones with a wider reach. Prabhakar inaugurated a renovated branch on the city's Ring Road, offering the latest technological platforms to customers. This is the third branch under the bank's newly launched branding christened 'Nav Shakti', after two similar branches were opened in Hyderabad. The bank offers services like 24-hour cash and cheque deposits and a coin dispensing machine, among others at the 'Nav Shakti' branches. Prabhakar said 250 branches will be converted into 'Nav Shakti' branches in the next 15 months. Deputy General Manager Ravi Kumar was also present on the occasion.

Singapore faces smog problem June 19, 2013 - Singapore's problem of smog from forest fires in Indonesia worsened on Wednesday as air pollutant levels reached a 16-year high. Foreign tourists and convention delegates joined Singaporeans in complaining about the smoky haze enveloping the city-state of 5.3 million inhabitants, which welcomed 14.4 million visitors in 2012. The Pollutant Standards Index soared to 172 at 3 pm (0700 GMT), well past the officially designated unhealthy threshold of 100, according to the National Environment Agency (NEA) website. It was Singapore's worst haze reading since September 1997 when the number peaked at 226. The reading rose to 155 on Monday night, overtaking the second highest reading of 150 recorded in 2006. Southeast Asia's haze crisis in 1997-1998 caused widespread health problems and cost the regional economy billions of dollars as a result of business and air transport disruptions. Zac Kot, 40, a business owner from the United States who was in Singapore for a holiday with his wife and two young girls, said they were cutting their visit short by two days. Has the haze affected us? Definitely. We are going to leave Singapore two days early because we are having trouble breathing, he said. Russian tourist Egor Podolsky, 23, said the haze forced his girlfriend and him to alter their travel itinerary in the city-state. You can see people wearing masks when walking around... It's not good, it's definitely not good, he said. Surgical masks flew off drugstores' shelves as residents and offices bought in bulk for their families and staff. Singapore officials continued to take to social media to address Singaporeans' rising anger over the unabating haze conditions. Foreign minister K. Shanmugam strongly rebutted netizens' criticism that the Singapore government was being soft on Indonesia. Every country is sovereign and we can't intervene in the actions in other countries, he said in a Facebook post on Wednesday. The burning is taking place in Indonesia. What do you think Singapore can do about that? he wrote. Shanmugam and Singapore's environment minister Vivian Balakrishnan on Tuesday spoke with their Indonesian counterparts to emphasise the urgency of the situation and offer help to fight the fires in Sumatra, a government statement said. On Monday, Indonesian forestry ministry official, Hadi Daryanto, shifted some of the blame to Malaysia and Singapore, saying their palm oil companies that had invested in Indonesia were also responsible.

Reckless British bankers could face jail: commission LONDON, June 19, 2013 (AFP) - Bankers found guilty of reckless misconduct in Britain could end up in prison and be stripped of bonuses, under tough proposals to clean up the City of London published on Wednesday. The radical penalties were put forward by an official commission which said that a string of scandals in British finance had caused an enormously damaging loss of trust. The Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, created by the government after the Liborrate-rigging scandal which had global repercussions last year, made the recommendations in a final report amounting to a blunt indictment of malpractice. The loss of trust in banking has been enormously damaging; there is now a massive opportunity to reform banking standards to strengthen the value of banking in the future and to reinforce the UK's dominant position within the global financial services industry, the report read. The commission recommended that the state-rescued Royal Bank of Scotland should be split into a so-called good bank and a bad bank, and criticised the government for political interference in both RBS and fellow bailed-out lender Lloyds Banking Group. The review was published ahead of finance minister George Osborne's annual Mansion House speech to business leaders, in which he is expected to address the government's privatisation plans for RBS and Lloyds. The commission also concluded that senior bankers must be made personally responsible for malpractice -- with a new criminal offence of reckless misconduct carrying a prison sentence. Under the proposals, more remuneration would be deferred for longer periods of up to 10 years, in order to reflect the longer run balance between business risks and rewards. Regulators would be granted new powers to cancel all outstanding deferred remuneration. Bankers would be licensed and sign up to a new code of conduct, under which all key responsibilities would be assigned to specific senior officials who would be held accountable. The reputation of Britain's banking sector has been damaged in recent years by a string of scandals, including Libor rate-rigging, credit insurance mis-selling, and ongoing controversy over staff behaviour in the run-up to the 2008 global financial crisis. The Treasury welcomed the review, describing it as an impressive piece of work, and added that it would help the government create a stronger and safer banking system. Tyrie added in the report: Under our recommendations, senior bankers who seriously damage their banks or put taxpayers' money at risk can expect to be fined, banned from the industry, or, in the worst cases, go to jail. That has not been the case up to now. The Commission was formed last year after revelations that Barclays bank tried to manipulate the Libor rate, which is used as a benchmark for global financial contracts worth about $300 trillion. Libor is calculated daily, using estimates from banks of their own interbank rates. However, the system has been found to be open to abuse, with some traders lying about borrowing costs to boost trading positions or make their bank seem more secure.

Assad may win, says Israeli minister June 10, 2013 - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may succeed in crushing the two-year-old uprising against his rule with the support of Iran and Hezbollah fighters from neighbouring Lebanon, Israel's intelligence minister said on Monday. It might be the case that, at the end of the day, Assad... might get the upper hand , Yuval Steinitz told a meeting of the Foreign Press Association. I think that this is possible. In such time of conflict, if the opposition is not making any progress, and the regime manages to survive and to get very strong support from other countries, namely Iran and Hezbollah, which is a proxy of Iran, in the end it might just survive. Syria was receiving very significant militant support from Iran and Hezbollah, with thousands of Shiite militants fighting alongside Assad's forces in very clear formations and with very good equipment -- this might help, he said. Israel has repeatedly shied away from involvement in Syria's civil war, insisting it is not backing one side or the other in the conflict which has claimed more than 94,000 lives since March 2011. But it has recently stepped up its warnings to Damascus over any attempt to draw the Jewish state into a confrontation. I would suggest to Syria, to the Assad regime: be very careful not to allow any provocation on the Golan Heights or against the State of Israel, Steinitz said. We don't want to get involved. Don't force us. Don't provoke us, don't make any miscalculation about us , he said Last week, rebel forces briefly seized Quneitra, which lies in the demilitarised zone on the IsraelSyria ceasefire line, prompting fierce clashes with government troops in a development which caused great concern in Israel. Quneitra is the only crossing point between the Syrian and Israeli zones of control on the Golan Heights. Israel seized most of the strategic plateau in the Six-Day War of 1967 and annexed it in 1981 in a move never recognised by the international community. The current armistice line was set after the 1973 Yom Kippur War and has been largely peaceful ever since. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that might not remain the case. For 40 years this country has had quiet on the Syrian front, he told a parliamentary committee. It may be that that is changing before our eyes, a Knesset statement quoted him as saying. It went on to say that he dismissed as nonsense Syrian media reports of undercover Israeli military units operating in the war-torn country. Thursday's clashes prompted Austria to announce it would withdraw its 377 troops from the UN Disengagement Observer Force, which is headquartered at Quneitra. Steinitz said it was crucial the UN force, which was established to monitor the 1974 ceasefire agreement, be kept in place.

61 killed in wave of attacks in Iraq June 10, 2013 - A wave of violence across Iraq on Monday killed 61 people, nearly half of them in the northern city of Mosul, officials said. In Mosul, which is populated mainly by Sunni Arabs, 29 people were killed when five car bombs targeted the army and police, the officials said, adding a curfew had been imposed in the city. We have received many corpses, said Anwar al-Juburi, a doctor at Mosul General Hospital. Most of them were members of the security forces. Mosul, and the surrounding province of Nineveh of which it is the capital, remain one of the most violent and unstable parts of Iraq. It is one of several Sunni-majority areas of the country that have seen months of anti-government protests, with the community decrying alleged targeting at the hands of the Shiite-led authorities. Attacks in the northern cities of Kirkuk, Tikrit and Tuz Khurmatu, meanwhile, left eight other people dead. And explosions just north of Baghdad in Taji and neighbouring Diyala province, killed a further 20 people, while a suicide bombing targeting security forces killed four people. The latest attacks are part of a spike in nationwide violence that last month left more than 1,000 people dead according to the United Nations, the highest such toll since 2008, sparking fears of a revival of the all-out sectarian war that blighted Iraq in 2006 and 2007.

Mali mediators hopeful of accord to pave way for vote June 10, 2013 - Burkina Faso's mediators hosting talks between Mali's government and armed Tuareg rebels said on Monday that they hoped for an agreement to enable elections to be held next month. We're counting on (Monday) to conclude an accord, Burkina Faso Foreign Minister Djibrill Bassole said after a weekend of talks between Malian officials and the Tuareg rebels who control the key northeastern city of Kidal. But he warned that distrust persisted between the rivals, following an eruption of deadly fighting last week as government troops advanced towards Kidal following reports of ethnic cleansing there. Later on Monday, Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore met the Bamako and Tuareg delegations in the presence of United Nations, African Union and European Union representatives. It is a question of removing the sticking points that are blocking a deal, said a person involved in the discussions, who requested anonymity. A diplomatic source said a deal may require an extra day. Mali's government has been struggling to reestablish its authority over all of the West African country after a March 2012 coup in Bamako created a power vacuum that saw Al-Qaeda linked Islamists and Tuareg rebels overrun the north. UN chief Ban Ki-moon said in a report on Sunday that the militants in Mali remained a threat to all of west Africa and voiced concern about next month's planned election. The Tuareg rebel National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) has held Kidal since January, in the wake of a French-led military offensive which ousted the armed Islamists from the cities in northern Mali, but they have set up bases in nearby mountains. The Tuareg rebels refuse to let government troops or officials into Kidal, posing a threat to Bamako's plans to hold a nationwide presidential poll on July 28, the first since last year's coup plunged the country into chaos. The Ouagadougou talks follow heavy fighting which erupted last week when the army launched an attack in Anefis, a town south of Kidal, following reports that the light-skinned Tuaregs had been arresting and expelling black Malians in the city. The army said 30 rebel soldiers were killed. The MNLA claimed that several army vehicles were destroyed and the men aboard them killed. There is a lot of distrust at the moment, particularly after the latest events at Anefis, Bassole said. He gave no details of the proposed agreement, but said mediators are working very hard on the means of deploying Malian defence and security forces in the Kidal region. Compaore has said the Malian parties must agree on the redeployment of general administration, basic social services, defence and security forces to the north of Mali and in particular to Kidal. He has invited members of the international community to participate in the talks, including the United Nations, the African Union, and former colonial power France. An official involved in the talks said a technical committee had been set up to discuss the details of the security deployment around Kidal. The mediation has proposed a gradual return of the Malian army in the city and the billeting of rebel troops. It has also suggested that French and UN troops could supervise the Malian military's operations to assuage Tuareg fears of reprisals by government forces. Rights groups have warned against the risk of retaliatory action by pro-government troops who blame the Tuareg rebellion for last year's disastrous scenario, which saw Al Qaeda groups take over half of the country and impose a deadly brand of Islamic law.