Continue reading AT&T brings free WiFi to four more NYC parks, will occupy your downtime
AT&T brings free WiFi to four more NYC parks, will occupy your downtime originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Airport officials and plain-clothed security officers examine a damaged helicopter that was shot by unidentified gunmen, inside a hangar at an airport in Timika, Papua province, Indonesia, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011. Gunmen attacked the helicopter carrying 29 workers and family members from Freeport-McMoRan's trouble-plagued gold and copper mine in eastern Indonesian, wounding one person Saturday, officials said. (AP Photo)
Airport officials and plain-clothed security officers examine a damaged helicopter that was shot by unidentified gunmen, inside a hangar at an airport in Timika, Papua province, Indonesia, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011. Gunmen attacked the helicopter carrying 29 workers and family members from Freeport-McMoRan's trouble-plagued gold and copper mine in eastern Indonesian, wounding one person Saturday, officials said. (AP Photo)
TIMIKA, Indonesia (AP) ? Gunmen attacked a helicopter carrying 29 workers and family members from Freeport-McMoRan's trouble-plagued gold and copper mine in eastern Indonesian on Saturday, wounding one person, officials said.
The attack came as thousands of unionized employees were preparing to return to the Grasberg mine in the mountains of Papua province following a three-month strike that has crippled production at the sprawling operation.
Though the 8,000 striking workers were supposed to be back on the job Saturday after management agreed to a 37 percent pay hike, union spokesman Juli Parorrongan said plans were pushed back so the two sides could iron out last minute details.
It was not immediately clear who was behind Saturday's attack or what the motive may have been.
Those on the Hevilift chopper did not appear to be tied to the work stoppage.
Unidentified gunmen opened fire minutes after liftoff from the mining town of Tembagapura, said police spokesman Col. Wachjono.
With only slight damage to the body of the aircraft, the Russian pilots were able to continue on to Timika, where they landed safely.
Mary Jane Mather, the Filipino wife of one of the employees, was being treated for shrapnel wounds, another police officer said.
The Phoenix-based Freeport ? which had hoped the end of the three-month strike would spell the end of trouble at its Grasberg mine ? said a full investigation would be carried out into the attack.
Parorrongan, the union representative, meanwhile, said he hoped the striking workers would be back to their jobs "soon," possibly by the middle of next week.
The two sides still were hammering out the finer points, such as how to mobilize those who live far from the mining town and a guarantee that those who took part in the strike would not face any sanctions, he said.
Tensions between the two sides soared after workers walked off their jobs on Sept. 15 ? the second strike in a matter of months ? several times erupting in violence.
At least nine people were killed, including several strikers shot by security forces.
A pipeline carrying ore concentrate to the port was damaged in an apparent act of sabotage. Strikers also blockaded roads leading to the mining town, making it difficult for Freeport to get food, medicine and other supplies to holed up contractors, non-striking workers and their families.
Indonesia has had a long, complicated relationship with Freeport ? a powerful player in the world markets for gold, copper and molybdenum ? and Papua, home to a decades-long low-level guerrilla war that has left more than 100,000 people dead, many at the hands of security forces.
The company's admission several years ago that it was paying military and police to handle security operations at Grasberg, located high in the jungle-clad mountains, has been a source of ongoing controversy.
Locals also complain that, despite the mine's massive profits, they have seen little benefit, earning as little as $2 an hour. They point also to environmental damage caused by mine waste products pumped into the Aghawagon River and its tributaries.
___
Associated Press writer Ali Kotarumalos contributed to this report from Jakarta.
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SINGAPORE/BEIJING (Reuters) ? Business sentiment among Asia's top companies slid in the fourth quarter to its lowest in two years, with executives rattled by rising costs and fears over where the global economy is heading.
The Reuters Asia Corporate Sentiment Index fell to 57 in the fourth quarter from 63 in the third quarter, a third consecutive quarterly decline. The poll registered 71 in the second quarter of this year.
While the latest reading indicates a decline in sentiment, an index reading above 50 indicates an overall positive outlook.
The index was compiled between December 5-9 from a poll of 100 senior executives at top Asian companies representing industries from autos and financial to technology, resources and property.
Global economic uncertainty remains the biggest single cloud on the business outlook across Asia, followed by concerns such as weak consumer demand in Australia, government policies and energy supplies in China, regulatory uncertainty in India and a persistently strong yen in Japan.
"We're in a limbo and it feels like we're in a recession, but there's enough data to say this isn't true," said Roger Tan, CEO at SIAS Research in Singapore.
"This is a terrible situation to be in because we don't know whether to move forwards or backwards."
Tan said Asian economies remain dependent on developments in the United States and Europe, and to some extent China.
"Signs in the U.S. and in Europe are not encouraging and companies are cautious of the chain effect they would have on Asia, where many economies are still export-reliant," he said.
"Overall, the mood is to hoard as much cash as possible until there's more certainty and we see a clearer situation as to whether economies will go into recession or see a recovery."
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Survey in PDF: http://r.reuters.com/vez55s
Graphics: Asia corporate sentiment: http://link.reuters.com/vyf53p
Main risks to outlook: http://link.reuters.com/zuj55s
RACSI vs MSCI Asia-Pac index:http://link.reuters.com/nuj55s
INSIDER: HSBC strategist: http://link.reuters.com/vyt55s
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While most companies went from positive to neutral, a surprise was the retail sector, which is turning more positive.
All five retailers polled were neutral-to-positive, a significant improvement from the previous quarter, when about 57 percent were neutral-to-negative. The positive outlooks were mainly from Chinese companies, where rising affluence and urbanization are helping to boost retailers' earnings.
In the finance sector, 10 of 13 banks and insurers polled were neutral, largely in line with the previous quarter. The lack of resolution for the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis has led to volatility in global financial markets, leading banks to cite economic uncertainty as their key risk.
In technology, eight out of 18 responses were neutral, while only four were positive, compared to seven the previous quarter. Five companies polled were negative, compared to three in the third quarter, showing a marked deterioration in their outlook. An overwhelming number of firms were concerned over the global economic uncertainty and its impact on demand.
EUROPE NOT HELPING
"I think it's just a lot of uncertainty around the global outlook. It's very easy to paint a bearish picture over the global economy and policymakers are not helping matters in Europe," said Steve Brice, chief investment strategist at Standard Chartered Bank.
"If you look at our scenario analysis, we see a 10 percent probability for a strong recovery, 60 percent for a mild recession or muddle environment and 30 percent for a deep recession. That 30 percent is a big number, and is what is going to corporates who are saying: let's wait and see how the policy framework plays out over the next six months before we invest heavily."
Brice said there needs to be clarity on what is happening in Europe before sentiment can improve.
"Getting rid of that uncertainty is key, and China is also going to play a very critical role in avoiding a hard landing," Brice said.
"We're expecting Chinese growth at 8.1 percent next year, averting a hard landing, but it will feel pretty much like a hard landing in the first quarter, so it's probably going to get worse before it gets better."
CHINA LEADS IN OPTIMISM
Regionally, companies in China, Asia's largest economy, and the world's second-largest, again led the way in optimism, despite concerns the Chinese economy is rapidly losing momentum.
Seven Chinese firms said they were positive about the near future and two said they were very positive. Five of those firms were in tech and retail. This indicates a return to more optimism in China following the third quarter survey when none responded that they were very positive.
"I think that worry is greater outside of China than it necessarily is inside," said Patrick Chovanec, associate professor of Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management in Beijing. "Partly that's because outside-of-China has seen more cycles like this."
Talking to people outside China, he said, "They've seen ups and downs, whereas people in China have only seen the up; they haven't seen the down."
The outlook in India also improved despite the Indian government reporting last week that the economy would grow between 7.25-7.75 percent in the fiscal year ending in March, lower than had been predicted.
As in the third quarter there were seven respondents, this time with four positive responses, two neutral and one negative, compared with one very positive, five neutral and one negative last quarter.
In Japan, there was only one positive response and five negatives out of 20 companies. That compared with six positive, 19 neutral and only one negative out of 26 Japanese companies in the September survey. Companies participating included Nikon (7731.T), Toshiba (6502.T), Daiichi Sankyo Co Ltd (4568.T) and Mitsubishi Corp (8058.T).
Twelve respondents said economic uncertainty weighs heaviest on them over the next six months, four said currency issues remained a problem because of the strong yen, while others said regulatory changes and consumer sentiment clouded their outlook.
Japan is "also particularly worried about China because they realize they're significantly exposed to any kind of downturn. And I think they've seen this movie before, too," Chovanec said.
(Additional reporting by Anuradha Kanwa in Singapore; Writing by Matt Driskill; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)
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Continue reading Engadget Primed: Why your camera's sensor size matters
Engadget Primed: Why your camera's sensor size matters originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 12:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Guest blogger Jason Stearns writes that the Congolese government is starting to push back at criticism of election irregularities, saying President Kabila would have won anyway.
Faced with an onslaught of criticism from the European Union, Carter Center and the Catholic church, members of the Congolese government has informally released its own report on the elections, authored, I am told, by the former election commissioner Abb? Malu Malu. This is not an official argument - they are informally passing around these documents to diplomats and observers.
Skip to next paragraphIn a well-written document, (with graphs here and here) these officials play along with allegations of fraud, but argue that even if there had been 3,449 polling stations (a different figure than that of the EU) uncounted, and that all those votes had gone to Tshisekedi, he would still be behind by 1.6 million votes.
They also argue that the suspiciously high turnout rates could be attributed to the large number of people who voted?par d?rogation, i.e. whose names were not on the original voting lists. However, if you look at turnout rates of over 99%, there are almost equal numbers of these polling stations in opposition and majority strongholds: 2,690 (pro-Kabila) and 4,320 (pro-Tshisekedi).
One can immediately begin to poke holes in these arguments ? for example, there were other forms of irregularities highlighted by observation missions other than just uncounted ballots and excessive turnout. Also, it is not clear how they define opposition and majority strongholds ? Kabila got a significant number of votes in the Kasais, for example. Maybe the polling stations with excessive turnout there voted for him?
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?In any case, the documents are worth reading and debating. They have also posted an interesting 1,042 page document with all of the polling station results ? check out pages 784 and onwards for a nice visual representation of irregularities in Katanga.
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?At the end of the day, however, the argument "even if there had been fraud, Kabila would have won" is something of a canard. Given the anger in the country, it is as much about the process as about the result. A substantial part of the population will not believe the government or anybody else that Kabila would have won a free and fair vote unless there is an investigation and some sort of recourse for fraud. It is indeed possible that Kabila would have won a clean election, but that kind of logic is falling on millions of deaf ears for the moment.
? Jason Stearns blogs about the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Great Lakes region at Congo Siasa.
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Perhaps, but the other guys are not going to change even if he's re-elected. Not so, says Axelrod. An Obama re-election will liberate Republicans by showing them the folly of standing with the Tea Party. Once Obama has set them free, they will join with him to tackle the real problems of America. That seems like a stretch, especially if the Obama team is effective in so diminishing the Republican opponent that Republicans can write off the loss as simply the result of a bad nominee, not a fatal flaw in their party's message.
Correction, Dec. 14, 2011: The article originally described Obama's path to winning the nomination. (Return to the corrected sentence.)
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