WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a dramatic reversal, President Barack Obama on Friday scrubbed a clean-air regulation that aimed to reduce health-threatening smog, yielding to bitterly protesting businesses and congressional Republicans who complained the rule would kill jobs in America's ailing economy.
Withdrawal of the proposed regulation marked the latest in a string of retreats by the president in the face of GOP opposition, and it drew quick criticism from liberals. Environmentalists, a key Obama constituency, accused him of caving to corporate polluters, and the American Lung Association threatened to restart the legal action it had begun against rules proposed by President George W. Bush.
The White House has been under heavy pressure from GOP lawmakers and major industries, which have slammed the stricter standard as an unnecessary jobs killer. The Environmental Protection Agency, whose scientific advisers favored the tighter limits, had predicted the proposed change would cost up to $90 billion a year, making it one of the most expensive environmental regulations ever imposed in the U.S.
However, the Clean Air Act bars the EPA from considering the costs of complying when setting public health standards.
Obama said his decision was made in part to reduce regulatory burdens and uncertainty at a time of rampant questions about the strength of the U.S. economy.
Underscoring the economic concerns: a new report Friday that showed the economy essentially adding no jobs in August and the unemployment rate stubbornly stuck at 9.1 percent.
The regulation would have reduced concentrations of ground-level ozone, the main ingredient in smog, a powerful lung irritant that can cause asthma and other lung ailments. Smog is created when emissions from cars, power and chemical plants, refineries and other factories mix in sunlight and heat.
Republican lawmakers, already emboldened by Obama's concessions on extending Bush-era tax cuts and his agreement to more than $1 trillion in spending reductions as the price for raising the nation's debt ceiling, had pledged to try to block the stricter smog standards as well as other EPA regulations when they returned to Washington after Labor Day.
A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, had muted praise for the White House Friday, saying that withdrawal of the smog regulation was a good first step toward removing obstacles that are blocking business growth.
"But it is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to stopping Washington Democrats' agenda of tax hikes, more government `stimulus' spending and increased regulations, which are all making it harder to create more American jobs," said Boehner spokesman Michael Steel.
Thomas Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said the move was "an enormous victory for America's job creators, the right decision by the president and one that will help reduce the uncertainty facing businesses."
White House officials said the president's decision was not the product of industry pressure, and they said the administration would continue to fight other efforts by Republicans to dismantle the EPA's authority.
But that was little consolation for many of the president's supporters. The group MoveOn.org issued a scathing statement, saying Obama's decision was one it would have expected from his Republican predecessor.
"Many MoveOn members are wondering today how they can ever work for President Obama's re-election, or make the case for him to their neighbors, when he does something like this, after extending the Bush tax cuts for the rich and giving in to tea party demands on the debt deal," said Justin Ruben, the group's executive director.
The American Lung Association, which had sued the EPA over Bush's smog standards, said it would resume its legal fight now that Obama was essentially endorsing the weaker limit. The group had suspended its lawsuit after the Obama administration pledged to change it.
Obama's decision, in fact, mirrors one made by Bush in 2008. After EPA scientists recommended a stricter standard to better protect public health, Bush personally intervened after hearing complaints from electric utilities and other affected industries. His EPA set a standard of 75 parts per billion, stricter than one adopted in 1997, but not as strong as federal scientists said was needed to protect public health.
In March, the EPA's independent panel of scientific advisers sent a letter to the agency's administrator, Lisa Jackson, saying it was its unanimous recommendation to make the smog standards stronger and that the evidence was "sufficiently certain" that the range proposed in January 2010 under Obama would benefit public health.
But the White House, which has pledged to base decisions on science, said Friday the science behind its initial decision needed to be updated, a process already under way at EPA. The smog standard now is to be revised until 2013.
Whether Obama still occupies the White House at that point depends on the outcome of next year's presidential election.
Cass Sunstein, the head of the White House regulatory office, said changing the smog regulation now, only to have it be reconsidered again in two years, would create unnecessary uncertainty for the private sector and local governments.
The stricter limits initially proposed by Obama would have doubled the number of counties in violation. Smoggy cities such as Los Angeles and Houston would have been joined by counties in California's Napa Valley and one in Kansas with a population of 3,000. They would have had up to 20 years to meet the new limits, once EPA settled on a final number, or would have faced federal penalties.
In his statement, the president said scrapping the stronger smog standards did not reflect a weakening of his commitment to protecting public health and the environment.
"I will continue to stand with the hardworking men and women at the EPA as they strive every day to hold polluters accountable and protect our families from harmful pollution," Obama said.
Even before Friday's decision -- announced as many Americans were paying more attention to their Labor Day weekend plans than the news -- the White House has faced some criticism for its record on the environment. Obama abandoned a campaign pledge to set the first-ever limits on the pollution blamed for global warming, and he announced an expansion of offshore drilling before the Gulf oil spill sidelined those plans.
However, he has successfully taken other steps to reduce air pollution, such as doubling fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks, clamping down on pollution from power plants that blows downwind and setting the first national standard for mercury, a toxic metal, from power plants, all in the face of Republican and industry opposition.
The ground-level ozone standard is closely associated with public health -- something the president said he wouldn't compromise in his regulatory review.
Sep 6, 2011
Unemployed face tough competition: underemployed
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The job market is even worse than the 9.1 percent unemployment rate suggests.
America's 14 million unemployed aren't competing just with each other. They must also contend with 8.8 million other people not counted as unemployed -- part-timers who want full-time work.
When consumer demand picks up, companies will likely boost the hours of their part-timers before they add jobs, economists say. It means they have room to expand without hiring.
And the unemployed will face another source of competition once the economy improves: Roughly 2.6 million people who aren't counted as unemployed because they've stopped looking for work. Once they start looking again, they'll be classified as unemployed. And the unemployment rate could rise.
Intensified competition for jobs means unemployment could exceed its historic norm of 5 percent to 6 percent for several more years. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office expects the rate to exceed 8 percent until 2014. The White House predicts it will average 9 percent next year, when President Barack Obama runs for re-election.
The jobs crisis has led Obama to schedule a major speech Thursday night to propose steps to stimulate hiring. Republican presidential candidates will likely confront the issue in a debate the night before.
The back-to-back events will come days after the government said employers added zero net jobs in August. The monthly jobs report, arriving three days before Labor Day, was the weakest since September 2010.
Combined, the 14 million officially unemployed; the "underemployed" part-timers who want full-time work; and "discouraged" people who have stopped looking make up 16.2 percent of working-age Americans.
The Labor Department compiles the figure to assess how many people want full-time work and can't find it -- a number the unemployment rate alone doesn't capture.
In a healthy economy, this broader measure of unemployment stays below 10 percent. Since the Great Recession officially ended more than two years ago, the rate has been 15 percent or more.
The proportion of the work force made up of the frustrated part-timers has risen faster than unemployment has since the recession began in December 2007.
That's because many companies slashed workers' hours after the recession hit. If they restored all those lost hours to their existing staff, they'd add enough hours to equal about 950,000 full-time jobs, according to calculations by Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute.
That's without having to hire a single employee.
No one expects every company to delay hiring until every part-timer is working full time. But economists expect job growth to stay weak for two or three more years in part because of how many frustrated part-timers want to work full time.
And because employers are still reluctant to increase hours for part-timers, "hiring is really a long way off," says Christine Riordan, a policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project. In August, employees of private companies worked fewer hours than in July.
Some groups are disproportionately represented among the broader category of unemployment that includes underemployed and discouraged workers. More than 26 percent of African Americans, for example, and nearly 22 percent of Hispanics are in this category. The figure for whites is less than 15 percent. Women are more likely than men to be in this group.
Among the Americans frustrated with part-time work is Ryan McGrath, 26. In October, he returned from managing a hotel project in Uruguay. He's been unable to find full-time work. So he's been freelancing as a website designer for small businesses in the Chicago area.
Some weeks he's busy and making money. Other times he struggles. He's living at home, and sometimes he has to borrow $50 from his father to pay bills. He's applied for "a million jobs."
"You go to all these interviews for entry-level positions, and you lose out every time," he says.
Nationally, 4.5 unemployed people, on average, are competing for each job opening. In a healthy economy, the average is about two per opening.
Facing rejection, millions give up and stop looking for jobs.
Norman Spaulding, 54, quit his job as a truck driver two years ago because he needed work that would let him care for his disabled 13-year-old daughter.
But after repeated rejections, Spaulding concluded a few weeks ago that the cost of driving to visit potential employers wasn't worth the expense. He suspended his job hunt.
He and his family are getting by on his daughter's disability check from Social Security. They're living in a trailer park on Texas' Gulf Coast.
"It costs more to look than we have to spend," he says.
Eventually, lots of Americans like Spaulding will start looking for jobs again. If those work-force dropouts had been counted as unemployed, August's unemployment rate would have been 10.6 percent instead of 9.1 percent.
Emma Draper, 23, lost her public relations job this summer. To pay the rent on her Washington apartment, she's working part time at the retailer South Moon Under. She's selling $120 Ralph Lauren swimsuits and other trendy clothes.
Her search for full-time work has been discouraging. Employers don't call back for months, if ever.
"You're basically on their timeline," Draper says. "It's really hard to find a job unless you know somebody who can give you an inside edge."
Retailers, in particular, favor part-timers. They value the flexibility of being able to tap extra workers during peak sales times without being overstaffed during lulls. Some use software to precisely match their staffing levels with customer traffic. It holds down their expenses.
"They know up to the minute how many people they need," says Carrie Gleason of the Retail Action Project, which advocates better working conditions for retail workers. "It's almost created a contingent work force."
Draper appreciates her part-time retail job, and not just because it helps pay the bills. It takes her mind off the frustration of searching for full-time work.
"Right now, finding a job is my job," she says. "If that was the only thing I had to do, I'd be going insane. There is only so much time you can sit at your computer, sending out resumes."
Leonard reported from St. Louis. AP Business Writer Ellen Gibson in New York contributed to this report.
America's 14 million unemployed aren't competing just with each other. They must also contend with 8.8 million other people not counted as unemployed -- part-timers who want full-time work.
When consumer demand picks up, companies will likely boost the hours of their part-timers before they add jobs, economists say. It means they have room to expand without hiring.
And the unemployed will face another source of competition once the economy improves: Roughly 2.6 million people who aren't counted as unemployed because they've stopped looking for work. Once they start looking again, they'll be classified as unemployed. And the unemployment rate could rise.
Intensified competition for jobs means unemployment could exceed its historic norm of 5 percent to 6 percent for several more years. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office expects the rate to exceed 8 percent until 2014. The White House predicts it will average 9 percent next year, when President Barack Obama runs for re-election.
The jobs crisis has led Obama to schedule a major speech Thursday night to propose steps to stimulate hiring. Republican presidential candidates will likely confront the issue in a debate the night before.
The back-to-back events will come days after the government said employers added zero net jobs in August. The monthly jobs report, arriving three days before Labor Day, was the weakest since September 2010.
Combined, the 14 million officially unemployed; the "underemployed" part-timers who want full-time work; and "discouraged" people who have stopped looking make up 16.2 percent of working-age Americans.
The Labor Department compiles the figure to assess how many people want full-time work and can't find it -- a number the unemployment rate alone doesn't capture.
In a healthy economy, this broader measure of unemployment stays below 10 percent. Since the Great Recession officially ended more than two years ago, the rate has been 15 percent or more.
The proportion of the work force made up of the frustrated part-timers has risen faster than unemployment has since the recession began in December 2007.
That's because many companies slashed workers' hours after the recession hit. If they restored all those lost hours to their existing staff, they'd add enough hours to equal about 950,000 full-time jobs, according to calculations by Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute.
That's without having to hire a single employee.
No one expects every company to delay hiring until every part-timer is working full time. But economists expect job growth to stay weak for two or three more years in part because of how many frustrated part-timers want to work full time.
And because employers are still reluctant to increase hours for part-timers, "hiring is really a long way off," says Christine Riordan, a policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project. In August, employees of private companies worked fewer hours than in July.
Some groups are disproportionately represented among the broader category of unemployment that includes underemployed and discouraged workers. More than 26 percent of African Americans, for example, and nearly 22 percent of Hispanics are in this category. The figure for whites is less than 15 percent. Women are more likely than men to be in this group.
Among the Americans frustrated with part-time work is Ryan McGrath, 26. In October, he returned from managing a hotel project in Uruguay. He's been unable to find full-time work. So he's been freelancing as a website designer for small businesses in the Chicago area.
Some weeks he's busy and making money. Other times he struggles. He's living at home, and sometimes he has to borrow $50 from his father to pay bills. He's applied for "a million jobs."
"You go to all these interviews for entry-level positions, and you lose out every time," he says.
Nationally, 4.5 unemployed people, on average, are competing for each job opening. In a healthy economy, the average is about two per opening.
Facing rejection, millions give up and stop looking for jobs.
Norman Spaulding, 54, quit his job as a truck driver two years ago because he needed work that would let him care for his disabled 13-year-old daughter.
But after repeated rejections, Spaulding concluded a few weeks ago that the cost of driving to visit potential employers wasn't worth the expense. He suspended his job hunt.
He and his family are getting by on his daughter's disability check from Social Security. They're living in a trailer park on Texas' Gulf Coast.
"It costs more to look than we have to spend," he says.
Eventually, lots of Americans like Spaulding will start looking for jobs again. If those work-force dropouts had been counted as unemployed, August's unemployment rate would have been 10.6 percent instead of 9.1 percent.
Emma Draper, 23, lost her public relations job this summer. To pay the rent on her Washington apartment, she's working part time at the retailer South Moon Under. She's selling $120 Ralph Lauren swimsuits and other trendy clothes.
Her search for full-time work has been discouraging. Employers don't call back for months, if ever.
"You're basically on their timeline," Draper says. "It's really hard to find a job unless you know somebody who can give you an inside edge."
Retailers, in particular, favor part-timers. They value the flexibility of being able to tap extra workers during peak sales times without being overstaffed during lulls. Some use software to precisely match their staffing levels with customer traffic. It holds down their expenses.
"They know up to the minute how many people they need," says Carrie Gleason of the Retail Action Project, which advocates better working conditions for retail workers. "It's almost created a contingent work force."
Draper appreciates her part-time retail job, and not just because it helps pay the bills. It takes her mind off the frustration of searching for full-time work.
"Right now, finding a job is my job," she says. "If that was the only thing I had to do, I'd be going insane. There is only so much time you can sit at your computer, sending out resumes."
Leonard reported from St. Louis. AP Business Writer Ellen Gibson in New York contributed to this report.
Obama says GOP must back US first, create jobs
DETROIT (AP) -- President Barack Obama used a boisterous Labor Day rally to put congressional Republicans on the spot, challenging them to place the country's interests above all else and vote to create jobs and put the economy back on a path toward growth. "Show us what you've got," he said.
In a partial preview of the jobs speech he's delivering to Congress Thursday night, Obama said roads and bridges nationwide need rebuilding and more than 1 million unemployed construction workers are itching to "get dirty" making the repairs. He portrayed Congress as an obstacle to getting that work done.
I'm going to propose ways to put America back to work that both parties can agree to, because I still believe both parties can work together to solve our problems," Obama said at an annual Labor Day rally sponsored by the Detroit-area AFL-CIO. "Given the urgency of this moment, given the hardship that many people are facing, folks have got to get together. But we're not going to wait for them."
"We're going to see if we've got some straight shooters in Congress. We're going to see if congressional Republicans will put country before party," he said.
Congress returns from its summer recess this week and the faltering economy and jobs shortage are expected to be a dominant theme.
Besides spending on public works, Obama said he wants pending trade deals passed to open new markets for U.S. goods. He also said he wants Republicans to prove they'll fight as hard to cut taxes for the middle class as they do for profitable oil companies and the wealthiest Americans.
The president is expected to call for continuing a payroll tax cut for workers and jobless benefits for the unemployed. Some Republicans oppose extending the payroll tax cut, calling it an unproven job creator that will only add to the nation's massive debt. The tax cut extension is set to expire Jan. 1.
Republicans also cite huge federal budget deficits in expressing opposition to vast new spending on jobs programs.
But Obama said lawmakers need to act -- and act quickly. "The time for Washington games is over. The time for action is now," he told a supportive union crowd that Detroit police said was in the thousands. The event at a General Motors Corp. parking lot in the shadow of the automaker's headquarters building had the sound and feel of a campaign event, with the union audience breaking into chants of "Four More Years" throughout the president's 25-minute speech.
Obama could be including himself in that call for action. His remarks came as he's facing biting criticism from the GOP for presiding over a persistently weak economy and high unemployment. Republicans dubbed him "President Zero" after a dismal jobs report last Friday showed that employers added no jobs in August -- which hasn't happened since 1945. The unemployment rate, meanwhile, remained unchanged at 9.1 percent.
The report sparked new fears of a second recession and injected fresh urgency into Obama's efforts to help get the unemployed back into the labor market -- and improve his re-election chances. No incumbent in recent times has been re-elected with a jobless rate that high, and polls show the public is losing confidence in Obama's handling of the economy. His approval rating on that issue dropped to a new low of 26 percent in a recent Gallup survey.
GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney said the report was disappointing, unacceptable and "further proof that President Obama has failed." Romney is scheduled to get ahead of Obama by outlining his job-creation plan in a speech Tuesday in Nevada, two days before the president addresses Congress.
Tax credits for businesses that hire and spending on school construction and renovation also are expected to be part of Obama's proposal.
Underscoring the political dueling under way over the economy, Obama plans to visit Richmond, Va., on Friday, the day after his speech, on the first of many trips he'll make to rally the public behind his plan. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., one of Obama's fiercest critics, represents part of Richmond.
Obama's broader goal with the speech is to make a sweeping appeal for bipartisan action on the economy by speaking not just to the lawmakers in front of him but also to the public at large. In that sense, the speech will mark a pivot from dealing with long-term deficit reduction to spurring an economic recovery.
Aides say Obama will mount a fall campaign centered on the economy, unveiling different elements of his agenda heading into 2012. If Republicans reject his ideas, the White House wants to use the megaphone of his presidency to enlist the public as an ally, pressure Congress and make the case for his re-election.
"People will see a president who will be laying very significant proposals throughout the fall leading up this next State of the Union" address, Gene Sperling, director of Obama's National Economic Council, told The Associated Press in an interview.
While Obama has said any short-term spending proposals will be paid for over the long term, aides say the speech will not offer details on what deficit reduction measures would be used to offset such spending. The speech also is not expected to include a detailed plan to resolve the housing crisis, a central cause behind the weak economy that has vexed the White House since the beginning of Obama's administration.
Sperling suggested that Obama would address the housing issue separately during the fall.
Meanwhile, the Chamber of Commerce unveiled its own jobs plan on Monday. In an open letter to the White House and Congress, the business lobby called for measures to immediately boost employment, including stepped-up road and bridge construction, more domestic oil drilling and temporary tax breaks for corporations.
Associated Press writers Jim Kuhnhenn and Julie Pace in Washington contributed to this report.
In a partial preview of the jobs speech he's delivering to Congress Thursday night, Obama said roads and bridges nationwide need rebuilding and more than 1 million unemployed construction workers are itching to "get dirty" making the repairs. He portrayed Congress as an obstacle to getting that work done.
I'm going to propose ways to put America back to work that both parties can agree to, because I still believe both parties can work together to solve our problems," Obama said at an annual Labor Day rally sponsored by the Detroit-area AFL-CIO. "Given the urgency of this moment, given the hardship that many people are facing, folks have got to get together. But we're not going to wait for them."
"We're going to see if we've got some straight shooters in Congress. We're going to see if congressional Republicans will put country before party," he said.
Congress returns from its summer recess this week and the faltering economy and jobs shortage are expected to be a dominant theme.
Besides spending on public works, Obama said he wants pending trade deals passed to open new markets for U.S. goods. He also said he wants Republicans to prove they'll fight as hard to cut taxes for the middle class as they do for profitable oil companies and the wealthiest Americans.
The president is expected to call for continuing a payroll tax cut for workers and jobless benefits for the unemployed. Some Republicans oppose extending the payroll tax cut, calling it an unproven job creator that will only add to the nation's massive debt. The tax cut extension is set to expire Jan. 1.
Republicans also cite huge federal budget deficits in expressing opposition to vast new spending on jobs programs.
But Obama said lawmakers need to act -- and act quickly. "The time for Washington games is over. The time for action is now," he told a supportive union crowd that Detroit police said was in the thousands. The event at a General Motors Corp. parking lot in the shadow of the automaker's headquarters building had the sound and feel of a campaign event, with the union audience breaking into chants of "Four More Years" throughout the president's 25-minute speech.
Obama could be including himself in that call for action. His remarks came as he's facing biting criticism from the GOP for presiding over a persistently weak economy and high unemployment. Republicans dubbed him "President Zero" after a dismal jobs report last Friday showed that employers added no jobs in August -- which hasn't happened since 1945. The unemployment rate, meanwhile, remained unchanged at 9.1 percent.
The report sparked new fears of a second recession and injected fresh urgency into Obama's efforts to help get the unemployed back into the labor market -- and improve his re-election chances. No incumbent in recent times has been re-elected with a jobless rate that high, and polls show the public is losing confidence in Obama's handling of the economy. His approval rating on that issue dropped to a new low of 26 percent in a recent Gallup survey.
GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney said the report was disappointing, unacceptable and "further proof that President Obama has failed." Romney is scheduled to get ahead of Obama by outlining his job-creation plan in a speech Tuesday in Nevada, two days before the president addresses Congress.
Tax credits for businesses that hire and spending on school construction and renovation also are expected to be part of Obama's proposal.
Underscoring the political dueling under way over the economy, Obama plans to visit Richmond, Va., on Friday, the day after his speech, on the first of many trips he'll make to rally the public behind his plan. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., one of Obama's fiercest critics, represents part of Richmond.
Obama's broader goal with the speech is to make a sweeping appeal for bipartisan action on the economy by speaking not just to the lawmakers in front of him but also to the public at large. In that sense, the speech will mark a pivot from dealing with long-term deficit reduction to spurring an economic recovery.
Aides say Obama will mount a fall campaign centered on the economy, unveiling different elements of his agenda heading into 2012. If Republicans reject his ideas, the White House wants to use the megaphone of his presidency to enlist the public as an ally, pressure Congress and make the case for his re-election.
"People will see a president who will be laying very significant proposals throughout the fall leading up this next State of the Union" address, Gene Sperling, director of Obama's National Economic Council, told The Associated Press in an interview.
While Obama has said any short-term spending proposals will be paid for over the long term, aides say the speech will not offer details on what deficit reduction measures would be used to offset such spending. The speech also is not expected to include a detailed plan to resolve the housing crisis, a central cause behind the weak economy that has vexed the White House since the beginning of Obama's administration.
Sperling suggested that Obama would address the housing issue separately during the fall.
Meanwhile, the Chamber of Commerce unveiled its own jobs plan on Monday. In an open letter to the White House and Congress, the business lobby called for measures to immediately boost employment, including stepped-up road and bridge construction, more domestic oil drilling and temporary tax breaks for corporations.
Associated Press writers Jim Kuhnhenn and Julie Pace in Washington contributed to this report.
Asia stocks dragged down by selloff in Europe
BANGKOK (AP) -- Asian stocks fell Tuesday, dragged down by sharp losses in European markets the day before as fears mounted of a worsening global economy.
Oil slid to below $84 a barrel amid expectations that continued weakness in developed economies will crimp demand for crude. The dollar was higher against the euro but lower against the yen.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index dropped 2.1 percent to 8,601.51, with shares of the country's powerhouse export sector skidding lower as fears grow of another U.S. recession. Toshiba Corp. plunged 7 percent and Panasonic Corp. lost 3.1 percent.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed 1.5 percent to 4,080.90 and South Korea's Kospi was down 1.9 percent at 1,751.22.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.9 percent at 19,432.32, with property developers hurt by speculation that the Chinese government may further slow investment in construction as it seeks to tamp down inflation and rebalance the economy.
Gold shares were among the few gainers Tuesday, as prices for the precious metal hovered near record highs. Hong Kong-listed Zijin Mining Group, China's largest gold miner, rose 2 percent. Newcrest Mining Ltd., Australia's No. 1 gold miner, rose 0.6 percent.
The declines in Asia come a day after European shares suffered sharp losses. Britain's FTSE 100 closed down 3.6 percent to 5,102.58. Germany's DAX tumbled 5.3 percent to 5,246.18, and France's CAC-40 dived 4.7 percent to 2,999.54.
Wall Street, which was closed Monday due to the Labor Day holiday, was bracing for losses. Dow futures were down 2.5 percent at 10,925 and broader S&P 500 futures fell 2.8 percent to 1,136.80.
Worrisome U.S. employment figures and the possible spread of Europe's sovereign debt crisis from small economies like Greece to major ones like Italy are stoking investor fears. Greece, Ireland and Portugal have already needed to be rescued with loans from the IMF and Europe, but Italy is regarded as too large to bail out.
"People are worrying about the U.S. economy and the worsening situation in Europe, especially Italy and Spain," said Jackson Wong, vice president of Tanrich Securities in Hong Kong. "There are very big concerns in the market that they might not contain the situation in the short term."
A wave of negative sentiment was unleashed Friday, when a government report said the U.S. economy failed to add any new jobs in August. That caused European and Asian stock markets to sink sharply Monday.
The August jobs figure was far below economists' already tepid expectations for 93,000 new U.S. jobs and renewed concerns that the U.S. recovery is not only slowing but actually going into reverse.
U.S. hiring figures for June and July were also revised lower, adding to the gloom. The unemployment crisis has prompted President Barack Obama to schedule a major speech Thursday night to propose steps to stimulate hiring.
Benchmark oil for October delivery was down $2.78 to $83.67 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude last settled at $86.45 on Friday because U.S. markets were closed Monday for the holiday.
In London, Brent crude for October delivery was up 36 cents at $110.44 on the ICE Futures exchange.
In currencies, the euro slid to $1.4054 from $1.4187 in New York late Friday as worries mounted about Greece's ability to meet requirements set by international lenders to stave off a massive default on the country's debts.
The dollar weakened to 76.82 yen from 76.87 yen. Last month, the dollar fell under 76 yen, which was a new post-World War II high for the Japanese currency.
Oil slid to below $84 a barrel amid expectations that continued weakness in developed economies will crimp demand for crude. The dollar was higher against the euro but lower against the yen.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index dropped 2.1 percent to 8,601.51, with shares of the country's powerhouse export sector skidding lower as fears grow of another U.S. recession. Toshiba Corp. plunged 7 percent and Panasonic Corp. lost 3.1 percent.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed 1.5 percent to 4,080.90 and South Korea's Kospi was down 1.9 percent at 1,751.22.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.9 percent at 19,432.32, with property developers hurt by speculation that the Chinese government may further slow investment in construction as it seeks to tamp down inflation and rebalance the economy.
Gold shares were among the few gainers Tuesday, as prices for the precious metal hovered near record highs. Hong Kong-listed Zijin Mining Group, China's largest gold miner, rose 2 percent. Newcrest Mining Ltd., Australia's No. 1 gold miner, rose 0.6 percent.
The declines in Asia come a day after European shares suffered sharp losses. Britain's FTSE 100 closed down 3.6 percent to 5,102.58. Germany's DAX tumbled 5.3 percent to 5,246.18, and France's CAC-40 dived 4.7 percent to 2,999.54.
Wall Street, which was closed Monday due to the Labor Day holiday, was bracing for losses. Dow futures were down 2.5 percent at 10,925 and broader S&P 500 futures fell 2.8 percent to 1,136.80.
Worrisome U.S. employment figures and the possible spread of Europe's sovereign debt crisis from small economies like Greece to major ones like Italy are stoking investor fears. Greece, Ireland and Portugal have already needed to be rescued with loans from the IMF and Europe, but Italy is regarded as too large to bail out.
"People are worrying about the U.S. economy and the worsening situation in Europe, especially Italy and Spain," said Jackson Wong, vice president of Tanrich Securities in Hong Kong. "There are very big concerns in the market that they might not contain the situation in the short term."
A wave of negative sentiment was unleashed Friday, when a government report said the U.S. economy failed to add any new jobs in August. That caused European and Asian stock markets to sink sharply Monday.
The August jobs figure was far below economists' already tepid expectations for 93,000 new U.S. jobs and renewed concerns that the U.S. recovery is not only slowing but actually going into reverse.
U.S. hiring figures for June and July were also revised lower, adding to the gloom. The unemployment crisis has prompted President Barack Obama to schedule a major speech Thursday night to propose steps to stimulate hiring.
Benchmark oil for October delivery was down $2.78 to $83.67 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude last settled at $86.45 on Friday because U.S. markets were closed Monday for the holiday.
In London, Brent crude for October delivery was up 36 cents at $110.44 on the ICE Futures exchange.
In currencies, the euro slid to $1.4054 from $1.4187 in New York late Friday as worries mounted about Greece's ability to meet requirements set by international lenders to stave off a massive default on the country's debts.
The dollar weakened to 76.82 yen from 76.87 yen. Last month, the dollar fell under 76 yen, which was a new post-World War II high for the Japanese currency.
Jul 19, 2011
IBM, Coke earnings lift US stock indexes
NEW YORK (AP) — Strong profits from Coca-Cola, IBM and other companies drove a stock market rebound Tuesday.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 104 points, or 8 percent, to 12,489 in early afternoon trading. The Dow slid five of the previous seven days as Europe's debt crisis threatened to envelop Italy and as a deadlock continued in Washington over raising the country's borrowing limit.
The S&P 500 index rose 10 points or 0.8 percent, to 1,315. The Nasdaq composite gained 41 points or 1.5 percent, to 2,806.
The gains pushed the Dow and Nasdaq higher for the month. The S&P 500 is still down by less than 1 percent.
Information technology stocks led industry groups higher after IBM Corp.'s results beat analysts' estimates. Corporate software spending held steady during the quarter. IBM's stock rose 4 percent.
Coca-Cola Co.'s income rose 18 percent in the second quarter on stronger sales overseas. The world's largest beverage maker raised some prices to offset higher ingredient costs. Coca-Cola's stock was up more than 3 percent.
KeyCorp rose more than 1 percent after the Cleveland-based banking company reported a jump in earnings thanks to a drop in loan losses. Net income of 25 cents a share was up from 3 cents a share a year ago.
Harley-Davidson Inc. rose 10 percent, the most of any stock in the S&P 500 index. The motorcycle maker reported its first increase in U.S. sales since the final quarter of 2006. Sales of its motorcycles, some of which sell for more than $30,000, had languished throughout the economic slump.
A jump in housing construction lifted the stocks of Lennar Corp. and D.R. Horton Inc. The Commerce Department said building of new houses and apartments jumped 14.6 percent in June from the previous month. Single-family house construction rose 9.4 percent, the largest increase since June 2009, the month that marked the end of the recession. Much of the monthly increase, however, came from new apartment buildings.
Bank stocks were mixed. Wells Fargo & Co.'s profit soared 30 percent to 70 cents per share on stronger results from lending. Uncollected loans dropped for the sixth quarter in a row. The bank's stock gained 4 percent.
Bank of America Corp. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. fell more than 2 percent after posting disappointing results.
Bank of America lost 90 cents per share. That's more than analysts polled by data provider FactSet expected. The loss included a $8.5 billion settlement the bank paid to mortgage-bond investors.
Goldman's earnings more than doubled to $1.85 per share, up from 78 cents a year ago. But a drop in bond trading kept results from hitting the analysts' estimates of $2.35 per share.
Europe's banking troubles and the impasse over lifting the U.S. government's borrowing limit pummeled the stock market Monday. The Dow fell 95 points.
Two weeks are left before the Treasury Department says the government must lift the country's $14.3 trillion borrowing limit or risk defaulting on its obligations. House Republicans are preparing to vote on a plan that would lift the debt ceiling but also slash spending. The proposal includes a balanced-budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution. President Barack Obama pledged to veto the bill.
Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Jul 9, 2011
Flat jobs data signal weakest recovery in decades
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The job market is defying history.
A dismal June employment report shows that employers are adding nowhere near as many jobs as they normally do this long after a recession has ended.
Unemployment has climbed for three straight months and is now at 9.2 percent. There's no precedent, in data going back to 1948, for such a high rate two years into what economists say is a recovery.
The economy added just 18,000 jobs in June. That's a fraction of the 90,000 jobs economists had expected and a sliver of the 300,000 jobs needed each month to shrink unemployment significantly.
The excruciatingly slow growth is confounding economists, spooking consumers and dismaying job seekers. Friday's report forced analysts to re-examine their assumption that the economy would strengthen in the second half of 2011.
They had expected improvement in June after a bleak jobs report for May. They figured that hiring in May had been artificially weakened by temporary factors -- a run-up in gasoline prices to $4 a gallon and factory disruptions caused by Japan's earthquake and nuclear crisis.
But the June numbers were even worse than May's, even though gasoline prices are falling and factories revving up again.
"This is a remarkable, across-the-board backslide," says economist Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute.
Sometimes disappointing economic reports look better on closer inspection. This one gets uglier.
Workers' hourly pay fell in June. They worked fewer hours. And 16.2 percent of those who wanted to work were either unemployed, forced to settle for part-time jobs or had given up looking for work. That figure was up from 15.8 percent in May.
Among the frustrated is Cris Cohen, who was laid off in April from a job as a contractor for Cisco Systems in Raleigh, N.C. He's been searching for work since then, futilely combing job listings, reaching out to friends and setting up a website with a resume and a blog.
"In the past when I've left jobs or been laid off, I've just contacted connections I have had, and that's led to opportunities," says Cohen, who has a wife and a 9-year-old son. "Now it's just seems much more dry.... There's just always that anxious feeling, that nausea."
One problem is that after slashing jobs during the Great Recession, employers are still reluctant to replace them. They've learned to squeeze more work and revenue out of reduced staffs. Productivity and corporate profits have soared. But companies don't want to add workers until they're confident that consumers are spending enough to support higher sales.
Other factors are restraining hiring, too. More sophisticated software lets managers scrutinize changes in their businesses minute-by-minute. They can postpone hiring until they're certain they need more workers.
Employers have good reason to wait, says economist Ken Mayland at ClearView Economics. A political standoff over the federal debt limit threatens to send the U.S. government into default next month. That would send interest rates soaring and might tip the economy back into recession.
Even if President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans agree to raise the borrowing limit, the deal will likely require deep cuts in government spending and possibly tax increases. Combined, those steps could slow the economy further.
The economy has already lost 493,000 government jobs since the recession ended, most of them eliminated by cash-short cities and counties. Now it faces the prospect of big cuts by the federal government, too.
Heightening the uncertainty are Europe's debt crisis and the possibility that China's efforts to tame inflation will slow its booming economy. Both factors could destabilize financial markets and reduce U.S. exports, one of the economy's few strengths.
"Why would an employer hire now?" Mayland says. "It's hunker down and wait and see."
The Federal Reserve has already lowered short-term interest rates to near zero. And last month, it ended a Treasury bond-purchase program that was intended to strengthen the economy.
Congress, pointing to high budget deficits, won't consider spending taxpayer money to jolt the economy with new government programs.
"We have painted ourselves into a corner," Mayland says. "When you're at zero interest rates and running a $1.5 trillion deficit, you don't really have many policy options."
Many analysts say the economy mainly needs time to recover from an implosion of the real estate market and a devastating financial crisis.
Normally, housing and construction would fuel a recovery. Lower interest rates would draw homebuyers into the market. Increased demand would encourage builders to hire construction workers and put up new houses.
Not so this time. Home prices are continuing to fall as banks dump foreclosed homes on the market. People's home equity has shrunk.
The tepid recovery is taking a toll on consumers, whose spending accounts for 70 percent of economic activity. The Conference Board business group said last week that its consumer confidence index fell to 58.5 in June. A healthy reading is 90. At this point after the previous three recessions, the index averaged 87.
The low reading suggests consumers will be wary about spending. That could leave businesses even more cautious about hiring.
Businesses are nervous about the economic outlook now that the Fed and Congress seem to have ended their efforts to stimulate growth, says David Rosenberg, chief economist at Gluskin Sheff + Associates.
"The policy cupboard is pretty bare, and we can see what the emperor looks like disrobed," Rosenberg says. "It's not a pretty picture."
AP Business Writers Christopher S. Rugaber and Derek Kravitz in Washington contributed to this report
A dismal June employment report shows that employers are adding nowhere near as many jobs as they normally do this long after a recession has ended.
Unemployment has climbed for three straight months and is now at 9.2 percent. There's no precedent, in data going back to 1948, for such a high rate two years into what economists say is a recovery.
The economy added just 18,000 jobs in June. That's a fraction of the 90,000 jobs economists had expected and a sliver of the 300,000 jobs needed each month to shrink unemployment significantly.
The excruciatingly slow growth is confounding economists, spooking consumers and dismaying job seekers. Friday's report forced analysts to re-examine their assumption that the economy would strengthen in the second half of 2011.
They had expected improvement in June after a bleak jobs report for May. They figured that hiring in May had been artificially weakened by temporary factors -- a run-up in gasoline prices to $4 a gallon and factory disruptions caused by Japan's earthquake and nuclear crisis.
But the June numbers were even worse than May's, even though gasoline prices are falling and factories revving up again.
"This is a remarkable, across-the-board backslide," says economist Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute.
Sometimes disappointing economic reports look better on closer inspection. This one gets uglier.
Workers' hourly pay fell in June. They worked fewer hours. And 16.2 percent of those who wanted to work were either unemployed, forced to settle for part-time jobs or had given up looking for work. That figure was up from 15.8 percent in May.
Among the frustrated is Cris Cohen, who was laid off in April from a job as a contractor for Cisco Systems in Raleigh, N.C. He's been searching for work since then, futilely combing job listings, reaching out to friends and setting up a website with a resume and a blog.
"In the past when I've left jobs or been laid off, I've just contacted connections I have had, and that's led to opportunities," says Cohen, who has a wife and a 9-year-old son. "Now it's just seems much more dry.... There's just always that anxious feeling, that nausea."
One problem is that after slashing jobs during the Great Recession, employers are still reluctant to replace them. They've learned to squeeze more work and revenue out of reduced staffs. Productivity and corporate profits have soared. But companies don't want to add workers until they're confident that consumers are spending enough to support higher sales.
Other factors are restraining hiring, too. More sophisticated software lets managers scrutinize changes in their businesses minute-by-minute. They can postpone hiring until they're certain they need more workers.
Employers have good reason to wait, says economist Ken Mayland at ClearView Economics. A political standoff over the federal debt limit threatens to send the U.S. government into default next month. That would send interest rates soaring and might tip the economy back into recession.
Even if President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans agree to raise the borrowing limit, the deal will likely require deep cuts in government spending and possibly tax increases. Combined, those steps could slow the economy further.
The economy has already lost 493,000 government jobs since the recession ended, most of them eliminated by cash-short cities and counties. Now it faces the prospect of big cuts by the federal government, too.
Heightening the uncertainty are Europe's debt crisis and the possibility that China's efforts to tame inflation will slow its booming economy. Both factors could destabilize financial markets and reduce U.S. exports, one of the economy's few strengths.
"Why would an employer hire now?" Mayland says. "It's hunker down and wait and see."
The Federal Reserve has already lowered short-term interest rates to near zero. And last month, it ended a Treasury bond-purchase program that was intended to strengthen the economy.
Congress, pointing to high budget deficits, won't consider spending taxpayer money to jolt the economy with new government programs.
"We have painted ourselves into a corner," Mayland says. "When you're at zero interest rates and running a $1.5 trillion deficit, you don't really have many policy options."
Many analysts say the economy mainly needs time to recover from an implosion of the real estate market and a devastating financial crisis.
Normally, housing and construction would fuel a recovery. Lower interest rates would draw homebuyers into the market. Increased demand would encourage builders to hire construction workers and put up new houses.
Not so this time. Home prices are continuing to fall as banks dump foreclosed homes on the market. People's home equity has shrunk.
The tepid recovery is taking a toll on consumers, whose spending accounts for 70 percent of economic activity. The Conference Board business group said last week that its consumer confidence index fell to 58.5 in June. A healthy reading is 90. At this point after the previous three recessions, the index averaged 87.
The low reading suggests consumers will be wary about spending. That could leave businesses even more cautious about hiring.
Businesses are nervous about the economic outlook now that the Fed and Congress seem to have ended their efforts to stimulate growth, says David Rosenberg, chief economist at Gluskin Sheff + Associates.
"The policy cupboard is pretty bare, and we can see what the emperor looks like disrobed," Rosenberg says. "It's not a pretty picture."
AP Business Writers Christopher S. Rugaber and Derek Kravitz in Washington contributed to this report
Feb 26, 2011
Waiting Seven Years for Two Answers
WHEN Zella Mae Green of Georgia filed for bankruptcy to save her home from foreclosure in 2004, she and her lawyer wanted to know two things: Did she actually owe any back payments on her mortgage? And, if so, to whom?
It didn’t seem like a lot to ask. But until last week, those questions had been unanswered for seven years.
Mortgages are complicated to begin with, of course. But when homeowners fall behind on their payments, the situation becomes far more complicated. Recurring fees and charges muddle the accounting. That banks routinely transfer the notes underlying a property can make things cloudier still.
But how Ms. Green’s case became her personal version of Jarndyce and Jarndyce, the endless lawsuit at the center of the Charles Dickens novel “Bleak House,” is a story for our times. The conflicting claims made over the years by employees and representatives ofWells Fargo, which says it holds the note on her property, are enough to make your head spin.
Wells Fargo and Ms. Green didn’t exactly agree on how much she owes on her mortgage. Ms. Green took out a $40,250 mortgage in 1988, never refinanced and figured she is four payments behind. Wells Fargo contended that she owes 113 back payments, totaling more than $48,000.
Ms. Green said she would have given up years ago if it weren’t for her lawyer. She would have forfeited her two-bedroom home in Decatur to one of the three institutions that have claimed — at the same time, mind you — to hold title to it. “It’s been a big mess for a long time,” she said in a recent interview.
Howard Rothbloom, a foreclosure defense lawyer in Marietta, Ga., represents Ms. Green. “The point of this whole case is that inaccurate, incomplete and conflicting information has been provided to Ms. Green over the course of seven years,” he said. “Determining the balance due on her loan should not have to be so difficult.”
THE whole episode makes you wonder, yet again, how many of the millions of foreclosures in recent years might have been based on questionable accounting or improper practices by loan servicers.
Years ago, Ms. Green, a widowed seamstress, ran into trouble on her mortgage several times. In the early to mid-1990s, after she was laid off and had to undergo an expensive emergency medical treatment, she filed for bankruptcy four times to hold on to her house. Georgia is a nonjudicial foreclosure state, and filing for bankruptcy lets borrowers keep their homes and work out a payment program overseen by a judge.
In the late 1990s, payment records show, Ms. Green got her mortgage back on track for about five years. Then a previous loan servicer began misapplying some of her payments, Mr. Rothbloom said. In January 2004, he took her case, filing a bankruptcy proceeding to stave off a foreclosure.
Wells Fargo took over servicing Ms. Green’s loan in May 2004. Mr. Rothbloom kept trying to determine who owned the loan and how much Ms. Green owed so that they could complete her case. “We filed a Chapter 13 bankruptcy to cure the arrearage, and we could never get a clear answer or supported answer as to what that arrearage was,” he said. “Bankruptcy rules require supporting documentation.”
Since then, he said, Ms. Green, 71, has paid her loan on schedule to a unit of Wells Fargo.
After two years passed, Mr. Rothbloom still had not received a complete and accurate accounting of Ms. Green’s loan. So he filed suit in May 2006 to determine who owned the note on her property. Because three institutions claimed ownership but none could produce the original note, Mr. Rothbloom began conducting discovery. During this exercise, three different Wells Fargo employees made three different representations to the court about the whereabouts of the note.
Story No. 1: The note was lost. Wells Fargo’s lawyers produced a sworn statement to that effect made on Oct. 20, 2004, by Lisa Joseph, a Wells Fargo employee. But that affidavit was incomplete. The section where Ms. Joseph was supposed to describe the diligent search she had conducted to find the note was blank. The document also said that a copy of the mortgage was attached. It wasn’t.
Hoping to verify that no one else might be holding the supposedly lost note, Mr. Rothbloom asked for Ms. Joseph’s deposition. Wells Fargo’s lawyers refused to supply her address. Instead, the bank produced an employee who knew nothing about the loss of the note or what Ms. Joseph had done to try to find it.
It was during that interview, in July 2006, that Story No. 2 emerged. The Wells employee said that the note had never been transferred to the bank, ergo, Wells could not have lost it, as Ms. Joseph had previously sworn.
Two months later, Wells filed a brief conceding that it did not own a security interest in Ms. Green’s loan but asking the court to dismiss Ms. Green’s suit. The court refused.
Late last month came Story No. 3. Wells told the court that it had found the missing note. It sits in the bank’s files in Maryland.
Over almost seven years, Wells Fargo employees swore to three different stories about the note on Ms. Green’s property. When asked two weeks ago how this could be, a spokeswoman for the bank said: “We regret any difficulties our customer experienced in this circumstance. This is the kind of situation we seek to avoid, and we are working on this customer’s situation to reach a solution.”
Late last week, Wells Fargo agreed to a settlement with Ms. Green. The terms are confidential. The deal came shortly after the United States Trustee, the unit of the Justice Department that oversees the nation’s bankruptcy courts, indicated it was interested in the facts of the case.
Fascinating how quickly these things get resolved when some daylight shines in.
Nov 22, 2010
Oct 29, 2010
Rice fields reach up to touch the autumn sky
As autumn arrives, visitors marvel at the picturesque scene of the ripened terraced rice fields in northwestern Vietnam.
The beauty of these rice fields can be blurred by the white clouds and the wind.
Such dreamlike scenery can only be seen in the early morning or after a sudden rain falling on the terraced fields lying along the mountain ranges.
The beauty of these rice fields can be blurred by the white clouds and the wind.
Such dreamlike scenery can only be seen in the early morning or after a sudden rain falling on the terraced fields lying along the mountain ranges.
Sa Pa in Lao Cai Province, Hoang Su Phi in Ha Giang Province and Mu Cang Chai in Yen Bai Province are perhaps the three areas having the most beautiful terraced rice fields in Vietnam. They are also popular tourism sites for international tourists.
Below are beautiful pictures of the terraced rice fields:
VN film industry yet to embrace market: Noyce
Phillip Noyce, director of “The Quiet American,” has been back in Vietnam since October 16 for the first Vietnam International Film Festival, eight years after he first came here to direct the film.
He spoke to Tuoi Tre about Vietnamese films.
What’s your overview of the Vietnamese movie industry?
I am not an expert because I have just seen some Vietnamese films at the VNIFF, which wrapped up on October 21 in Hanoi. However, the biggest difference that I see here is your cities now have more cinemas than eight years ago when I came to Vietnam to make “The Quiet American.”
In the past, there were few cinemas and people’s incomes were lower. But today many people are willing to spend money to buy cinema tickets. That’s progress.
Some days ago I watched “Floating Lives.” It is a very impressive film. I also know that the film did good sales in the first two days of public screening at the VNIFF. It has been promoted efficiently. I think it’ a model for Vietnamese cinema in future.
VNIFF got several international cinema experts and the quality of films screened at the festival was also quite good. I think later film festivals in Vietnam will become bigger. And when your movies make more money at the box office, more people will send their films to your festivals and distribute them here.
Many Vietnamese films have competed at international film festivals but have not won any awards. What should Vietnamese cinema do to be internationally recognized and attract foreign audiences?
The best solution is to have more cinemas. They are the best cinema schools for Vietnamese filmmakers. Vietnam switched to a market economy long ago but the development of a market economy for cinema is still lagging behind.
However, Vietnam has several international-standard cinemas. So, local filmmakers will learn a lot when their films are screened at the cinemas because they will have a chance to interact with audiences.
It is also the formula for success for major movie industries around the world. It is also a dance party between filmmakers, directors, actors with audiences.
But the dance party can only be successful if the audiences are happy to pay for their tickets. If they think films are worth their money, they will keep on visiting cinemas and then, of course, the dance parties will take place often.
Thus, I believe Vietnamese filmmakers will soon mature.
What do you think about Vietnamese audiences?
They are as good as any cinema fans across the world.
They want entertainment and they want to watch interesting films that are worth their money. They are ready to bring their families and friends to the cinema if they know there is a good film. When the “Floating Lives” was screened in Hanoi, I witnessed many people happily spending money to buy tickets. One woman I met paid VND300,000 (US$15) to buy a ticket in the black market [official price around VND40,000].
You used to make big films, which one of them is your favorite?
My favorite film is not a big film but a small one named “Rabbit-proof fence” that I directed in Australia. The film is about three little colored Australian girls who are separated from their families and have to travel 2,400 kilometers to return home.
Before I made it, many people told me I would not be able to find a producer, draw audiences, or take it to the international market. But I proved them wrong.
You have produced many action films and also scored big successes with psychological films. Which categories do you prefer?
In Hollywood, it is easier to make action films like “Salt” because you can easily get back your money. However, I don’t worry about that.
I have switched to making small films, from action to psychological… For me, all categories of film are similar and personally, I like different categories of film. Recently, I have also been interested in cartoons like “How to train your dragon.”
How do you maintain the balance between your art, audience tastes, and producers’ expectations?
In reality, there’s no conflict because I serve audiences. I think cinema exists just for audiences. I am just an entertainer like an acrobat in a traveling circus in the old days. When I was a child, two traveling circuses often came to my hometown to perform. One came by train and the other by road.
When the circus train arrived, I went out to watch the train and dreamed of getting onboard. Frankly, I am now on my own train and traveling to many places with it to perform and leave.
The only way for me to survive is to keep my audiences entertained. And, if they are happy I am happy.
Workshop on profit making with films Besides the students, there were also some Vietnamese directors and actors. At the workshop, Noyce spoke about filmmaking techniques and showed clips from his films. The students had to take part in various activities, including doing a review of a Vietnamese book they had read and explaining why it is movie material. (By Phuong Thuy)Phillip Noyce held a workshop on film directing for students of the Ho Chi Minh City College of Stage Art and Films at Lan Anh Village in District 2 on October 25 and 26. |
Music show marks Toyota’s 21st year in Asia
Orchestra Citta de Firenze from Florence, Italy, will perform the Toyota Classic Symphony at the Hanoi Opera House tonight to mark the Japanese company’s 21st anniversary in the Asia Pacific.
Renowned conductor Lorenzo Castriota Skanderbeg will wield the baton while tenor Leonardo Melani and talented young Vietnamese pianist Luu Hong Quang, who won the first prize at the 2009 Chopin Piano Contest in Australia, will perform.
The symphony promises an evening of classical Italian music with concertos and symphonies, extracts from traditional Italian operas like Rossini’s La gazza ladra and Verdi’s Giovanna d’Arco.
The show is a part of a series of performances being held from October 23 to November 12 in many Asian countries.
In Vietnam it has been held annually since 1997, acquainting Vietnamese audiences with world masterpieces and enabling local artists to perform with foreign professionals.
The money raised from ticket sales will go into the Toyota scholarship fund for young Vietnamese musicians.
Going Dutch in HCMC
The Holland Village festival that has come for the first time to Ho Chi Minh City offers an insight into Dutch lifestyles and customs through traditional crafts, food, and music.
Being held at the September 23 Park on Pham Ngu Lao Street from October 22 to 31, it features typical Dutch attractions like fish, cheese, and street-music stands that draw thousands of visitors daily.
“The things I like most here are plastic models of tulip flowers, cow farms, and windmills and also traditional Dutch food,” Thao Nghi, a student at the city’s Hong Bang University, said.
“The event helps me learn more about the Dutch people and their culture.”
Dutch tourist Marcel Simons said: “We are happy and proud that the Holland Village … is now taking place in Vietnam”.
“It is nice and interesting.
“I was in a taxi, going around to see the nightlife in HCMC, when I saw the front gate of Holland Village by chance,” Dirty Pierre, a tourist from New Zealand, told Tuoi Tre News.
“This event is amazing.”
Most visitors are fascinated by a 10-meter windmill, a symbol of the Netherlands, placed near the entrance.
The festival features demonstrations of clog making, glass blowing, and pottery by Dutch artists.
The pottery items are decorated with motifs depicting hunting and religious activities and Dutch landscapes with windmills, fishing boats, and others.
Glass artist Frans Limpens blows into a tube to create objects like clarinets, animals, boats, flowers, and motorbikes.
"I have performed in a lot of places around the world like Malaysia, South Korea, Beijing, Hongkong, Bangkok, New York, and now Vietnam,” Limpens said.
“Just show me an object you like and I will make it in glass,” he said confidently.
Also on display are traditional Dutch foods like raw fresh herring with onions and cucumber and poffertjes, a pancake loved by children.
On an open-air stage, there are daily shows of traditional Dutch costumes, floral workshops, accordion music, and milking competitions for children.
Holland Village was first held in Germany in 1980 and has since been held in Japan, China, Thailand, Malaysia, and Canada.
Vietnam certifies six powered hang-glider pilots
Mai Linh Corporation’s central and southern branch last Wednesday celebrated graduation ceremony and handed certificates to their six powered hang-glider pilots.
The six pilots, who will join promoting flying services at cheaper price in central beach city of Nha Trang, have become qualified after passing 300 flying hours and 600 flying tours in a training program coordinated with the Vietnam People's Air Defense and Air Force.
Last year the transport and travel service company imported five hang gliders from Italy and hired pilots who are professionals from Italy and France.
Building up a team of local trained pilots will help reduce riding cost to tourists. The current price is USD70 for a 15 minute ride and is estimated to lower to just $50.
The imported sportive designed gliders have big wings and simple engine, making it easy to operate. Each glider can carry a pilot and a tourist with a speed up to 80km/h and reach a maximum height of 300 meters.
Besides tourism activities, Mai Link Corp. will also extend their service for different purposes such as construction and geology inspection, filming and photography, cultural performances and business promotion.
Disfigured but alive: Zimbabwe cuts horns to save rhinos
The roaring chainsaw sends fingernail-like shards flying into the baking Zimbabwean bush as it slices through the slumped black rhino's foot-long horn.
The critically endangered female loses her spikes in just seconds, after being darted from a helicopter.
A few minutes later, she leaps up and escapes -- disfigured but alive -- in a dramatic attempt to deter the poachers who have unleashed a bloodbath on southern Africa's rhinos.
"De-horning reduces the reward for the poacher," said Raoul du Toit of the Lowveld Rhino Trust which operates in Zimbabwe's arid southeast.
"Poaching is a balance between reward and risk. It may tip the economic equation in the situation to one where it's not worth the poacher operating."
Rhino poaching reached an all-time high in Africa last year, according to the International Rhino Foundation.
In Zimbabwe, where just 700 rhinos remain, anti-poaching units face military-like armed gangs who ruthlessly shoot the animals to hack off the distinctive horns for the Asian traditional medicine market.
"These poachers in this part of the world here will shoot on sight. They operate in very aggressive units," Du Toit told AFP.
"They adopt patrol formations when they are after rhinos to detect any anti-poaching units that are deployed against them and they will open fire without hesitation.
"So there've been many gunfights -- a number of poachers killed, not so many on law enforcement side but that's mainly through luck."
Asian demand for rhino horn, believed to treat anything from headaches to sexual woes, has lured highly organized criminal syndicates.
Zimbabwe's black rhino were poached to a low of 300 in 1995 but recovered and leveled off to nearly double this before plummeting again to reach around 400 last year, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
"It was at this time, 2006-2007, when we actually saw the steep escalation in poaching which is related to syndicate kind of poaching orchestrated out of South Africa," said WWF's African rhino manager Joseph Okari.
"It is what makes a big difference between the poaching of today... and the poaching of the '80s and the early '90s," he said.
"That was not highly organized and well co-ordinated like what we are seeing today."
South Africa and Zimbabwe are rhino poaching hotspots, accounting for nearly all of the 470 rhinos killed in Africa between 2006 and 2009. Half of those killed were in Zimbabwe.
The slaughter this year has intensified in South Africa, where rhino poaching has doubled. Okari puts the shift down to the slashed population in Zimbabwe, particularly in state parks, and hardline controls that include poachers being shot dead.
The result is that the Lowveld region which lost 60 animals last year is now seeing more rhinos born than killed.
"If it was to continue at this level, we could see our population increase in time," said Lowveld Rhino Trust operations co-ordinator Lovemore Mungwashu.
In addition to de-horning, conservationists in Zimbabwe are fitting rhinos with microchips or transmitters to track them, while mounting foot patrols armed in some areas with AK-47 assault rifles. They're also conducting intelligence work to infiltrate the gangs.
The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority -- which has a five-ton store of severed rhino horns in Harare -- estimates the country now has 400 critically endangered black and 300 less threatened white rhinos.
"At peak, we had close to 3,000 rhinos -- that was in the early '80s," said national rhino coordinator Geoffreys Matipano who estimates the horns can fetch up to 20,000 dollars per kilogram (2.2 pounds).
"If you compare it with the past few years, we have managed to contain rhino poaching in the country."
The painless de-horning is seen as a deterrent but is short-term, expensive, time-consuming and risky with the notoriously unpredictable animals having to be supported with oxygen and sprayed with cooling water.
The trade is so lucrative that poachers will kill a rhino for two inches of horn, which grows back like a fingernail.
"De-horning is not a stand alone strategy. It has got to work with other strategies," said Matipano.
For privately run reserves, the fight to protect Zimbabwe's wildlife is relentless.
"We've got guys out 24/7 and monitoring things all the time," said Colin Wendham of the Malilangwe reserve near Chiredzi, shortly before a furious rhino mother tried to attack his vehicle.
"It's the only way that we're keeping on top of things."
While saying state parks still face continual declines, Du Toit believes aggressive law enforcement alongside good monitoring can win the fight against the poachers.
"We're dealing with very aggressive criminals," he said as the team ear-notched a young female.
"These are not just impoverished local people out to just make a little money -- these are focused professional criminals."
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