June 29, 2011 nº 1,059 - Vol. 9
"People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little."
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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Read Migalhas LatinoAmérica in Spanish every Tuesday and Thursday. Visit the website at www.migalhas.com/latinoamerica
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Deal brings new EU patents system closer
All but two of the EU's 27 member states have agreed to set up a common European patent system that could mean big savings for hundreds of firms. Currently European patents can cost ten times more than patents registered in the US because of translation costs. A fast-track procedure is being used to make the common patent a reality, but there is still a big legal obstacle. Italy and Spain fear discrimination because patents would be filed only in English, French or German. The two countries have lodged a legal challenge with the EU's top court, the ECJ - European Court of Justice, arguing that the new enhanced co-operation procedure should not be used to bring in the patent system. The procedure, which came in with the Lisbon Treaty, allows a group of countries to go ahead with EU legislation even when not all 27 member states agree. It has not been used before for EU single market issues, and Italy and Spain consider its use to be illegal in an area as sensitive as patents.
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1 - Supreme Court rejects $270m tobacco lawsuit appeal - click here.
2 - Muslim woman sues Abercrombie & Fitch over hijab - click here.
3 - Judge blocks key parts of Georgia immigration law - click here.
4 - Supreme Court to rule on FCC indecency policy - click here.
5 - Arrest warrant for Kadafi may complicate Libya conflict - click here.
6 - Supreme Court strikes down violent video games ban - click here.
7 - Amanda Knox trial: Rudy Hermann Guede, convicted Ivorian, to testify at appeal - click here.
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100% Migalhas: www.migalhas.com
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China's huge local debt revealed
The first ever audit of China's local government debts reveals they have reached $1.6tn after a borrowing and spending spree. Local government debt has long been identified by analysts as another weak spot in China's economy, responsible for a borrowing outbreak that has generated wasteful spending.
Ai Weiwei is ordered to pay $1.9m
China's authorities are demanding that dissident artist Ai Weiwei pay almost $2m in unpaid taxes and fines, according to a friend.
Brazil set to battle China for copper in Africa
Brazil and China are heading for a battle of strategic necessity over copper in Africa that will leave the winner walking away with the most expensive acquisition of a diversified minerals company. Jinchuan Group, the biggest Chinese nickel producer, is considering a bid for Johannesburg-based Metorex Ltd. to rival Vale's offer.
Auditors sharpen queries in China
Problems with bank "confirmation"—the process by which an auditor checks with a company's bank to verify its balances—have arisen in about 10 recent disputes between U.S.-traded Chinese firms and their auditors, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. (There are hundreds of Chinese firms traded on U.S. exchanges.) The auditors have found irregularities through their confirmation efforts or encountered other difficulties in confirming a client's bank accounts.
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Inversiones
Brasil ampliará sus puertos con una inversión de US$ 18 mil mills. en puertos hasta 2013 para aumentar la capacidad de carga en momentos en que crece la demanda de embarques de mineral de hierro, productos agrícolas y petróleo.
Coca-cola
Coca-Cola FEMSA y el Grupo Tampico - uno de los embotelladores familiares más grandes en términos de volumen de ventas en México- alcanzan un acuerdo para fusionar sus operaciones de embotellado. La transacción esta sujeta a un proceso adicional de auditoría legal, financiera y operativa, además a la aprobación de The Coca-Cola Company y de la Comisión Federal de Competencia. Coca-Cola FEMSA que convocará a una asamblea general extraordinaria de accionistas quienes deben autorizar la aprobación de esta fusión.
Energía
La española Gas Natural Fenosa ampliará el servicio de electricidad a 164.000 familias residentes en barrios pobres de Nicaragua con una inversión de US$ 380 mlls.. De ese total, US$ 150 mlls. serán aportados por la compañía y los otros US$ 230 mlls. serán financiados por organismos internacionales.
Bank of America nears $8.5-billion deal over mortgage-backed securities
Bank of America is near to a deal to pay $8.5 billion to settle a suit by investors who purchased mortgage securities that soured, handing a victory to a group of money managers including Pimco and BlackRock as well as the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Microsoft launches Office in the cloud
Microsoft is launching a cloud-based version of its Office software suite. Called Office 365 the service puts the familiar e-mail, word processing, spreadsheet and collaboration programs on the web. Microsoft said the programs will be accessible via desktops, laptops and tablets plus Microsoft, RIM, Apple and Android smartphones. The launch is aimed squarely at Google and others who already offer web-based business software.
Greece: The moment of truth
Greece prepares for a "historic" debate and vote in parliament that will decide whether it receives a much-needed bail-out - or faces bankruptcy. For months there have been protests in Greece. Hardly a day has passed without strikes. There is rising resentment at a recession that only seems to deepen. They have had a year of austerity and now the Greek people are being asked to endure a second of cuts and tax increases. All the signs are that the Greeks have reached a limit. Last year 400,000 jobs were lost. The opposition said "we cannot support a policy that deepens the recession". Indeed the government has not answered the question as to why more austerity will work when it failed the first time round. Even with a "yes" vote in the parliament there have to be doubts whether all these measures - particularly the privatizations - will be implemented. It is difficult to see how the debt mountain will be reduced. That is why most economists believe a default is inevitable - further down the road.
Google faces French court claim over market dominance
French search engine 1PlusV is suing Google for 295m euros (£264m), the largest damage claim the search engine has faced in Europe. It claims that Google used its market dominance to block the development of rival services. An earlier complaint from 1PlusV and others, including Microsoft, triggered a European Commission investigation. It also faces a probe from the US Federal Trade Commission.
Dutch MPs target ritual slaughter
The Dutch lower house of parliament has passed a law effectively banning the ritual slaughter of animals, in a move condemned by Muslim and Jewish groups. The legislation states that all animals must be stunned before being killed. But the Islamic dhabiha and Jewish shechita methods of ritual slaughter require them to be fully conscious.
Carrefour approached for Brazil merger
Carrefour, the giant French retailer, said on Tuesday that it had received an offer to merge its Brazilian operations with those of Companhia Brasileira de Distribuição, owned by Grupo Pão de Açúcar. The joint venture, proposed by the investment firm Gama, would create the largest retail company in Brazil, with total combined sales estimated at 30 billion euros ($43 billion) this year. But the deal is being contested by Carrefour's French rival, Casino, which owns a large stake in Grupo Pão de Açúcar.
Brazil's boom needs talent
Multinational companies are taking extra measures to secure qualified employees in Brazil's booming economy—beefing up internship programs and relocating workers from flat or declining markets.
Lagarde named IMF chief
France's finance minister will be the first woman to head the IMF. She has led France through a financial crisis and helped corral European support for the initial Greece bailout. Lagarde is also a fierce champion for the advancement of women.
Parlez-vous business?
Only 25% of the world speaks English - so businesses ignore the foreign language interest at their peril. Research found that found that 72.4% of consumers were more likely to buy a product with information in their own language. Ultimately it comes down to common sense.
Put yourself in the shoes of the consumer or the business buyer who's on the other side of your website. "If you go to a site in Japan or China or Russia, how would you react to information which is either exclusively in Russian or Chinese or sparsely translated into English... where you're forced to use the JCB card, or the Shanghai Visa One card, and that's all you could use. You'd say OK, this doesn't look like a good kind of situation, and you'd probably go somewhere else."
ICC prosecutor urges Gaddafi aides to implement arrest warrant
International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo on Tuesday urged personal aides of Libyan leader Mummar Gaddafi to implement the arrest warrants issued Monday. Moreno-Ocampo called on the aides to arrest Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the "de facto Prime Minister," and his brother-in-law Abdullah al-Sanussi, the head of intelligence, for alleged crimes against the people of Libya to quell the revolt that began last February, saying the aides could be "part of the solution."
Supreme Court declines to hear tobacco class action suit
The US Supreme Court on Monday denied certiorari in Philip Morris v. Jackson, declining to determine whether a state court erred in certifying a class of smokers who sued four tobacco companies, claiming that cigarettes containing nicotine are defective products. Despite the fact that the Louisiana state court found that cigarettes containing nicotine are not defective products, the smokers, potentially hundreds of thousands, were awarded a 10-year court-administered smoking cessation program, the implementation of which has been delayed because of the appeal process. Justice Antonin Scalia stayed the verdict last September.
Madoff judge: Feeder fund investors cannot recover
Investors in "feeder funds" who lost money in Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme do not qualify as customers of the now-imprisoned swindler, a federal bankruptcy judge ruled.
New rule takes aim at judges and their campaign supporters
In an attempt to combat the influence of money in the courtroom, New York has adopted a rule prohibiting elected judges from overseeing cases involving their major campaign contributors.
Illinois ex-Governor Blagojevich convicted on corruption charges
A jury in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on Monday convicted former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich on 17 of 20 counts including attempting to sell the US Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama. The jury convicted Blagojevich of right counts of wire fraud and on counts of extortion conspiracy, attempted extortion and conspiracy to commit bribery in connection with the sale of a US Senate seat. However, the jury remained deadlocked on a charge of attempted extortion for solicitation of then-congressman Rahm Emanuel, who served as Obama's chief of staff before being elected Mayor of Chicago.
Supreme Court rules New Jersey court lacks personal jurisdiction over UK and French companies
The US Supreme Court in a plurality opinion Monday reversed the New Jersey Supreme Court's grant of personal jurisdiction over a UK company in a products liability suit. Robert Nicastro alleged that he was injured by a defective metal-shearing machine manufactured in the UK by J McIntyre Machinery, Ltd. and sold in the US. McIntyre is incorporated in the UK and sells its machines in the US through a separate company distributor. The Supreme Court of New Jersey held that McIntyre was subject to specific personal jurisdiction in New Jersey for injuries sustained there under a "stream of commerce" theory where the company knew or reasonably should have known that its products would be sold throughout the US. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the plurality opinion, relying on Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's opinion in Asahi Metal Industries v. Superior Court, holding that McIntyre had not sufficiently directed its business toward New Jersey to subject it to personal jurisdiction. In a similar case, the Supreme Court ruled Monday that three foreign subsidiaries of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. can't be sued in a North Carolina court over a French bus accident that killed two of the state's residents.
Supreme Court strikes down violent video games ban
The US Supreme Court on Monday ruled 7-2 in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association that a California ban on the sale of violent video games to minors violates the First Amendment. California Civil Code sections 1746-1746.5 sought to prohibit the sale of violent video games to minors where a reasonable person would find that the violent content appeals to a deviant or morbid interest of minors, is patently offensive to prevailing community standards as to what is suitable for minors, and causes the game as a whole to lack serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors.
Taliban fighters attack landmark Kabul hotel
Al Jazeera, Doha, Qatar
Saleh to speak on TV to 'reassure' Yemenis
Asharq Al-Awsat, Pan-Arab daily, London, England
Bulgaria, Croatia recognise Libyan rebel council
Egyptian Gazette, English-language, Cairo, Egypt
Egypt police fire tear gas at protesting youths in Tahrir Square
Haaretz, Liberal daily, Tel Aviv, Israel
Ten al-Qaeda suspects arrested in Aden
Yemen Observer, Sana'a, Republic of Yemen
Nato quells Kabul hotel assault
BBC News, Centrist newscaster, London, England
Wimbledon food poisoning claim denied
BreakingNews.ie, Online news portal, Cork, Ireland
Attack on Kabul hotel ends with 18 dead
CNN International, London, England
Afghan hotel horror as suicide bombers attack Kabul Intercontinental
Daily Mail, Conservative daily, London, England
Taliban strike in Afghan capital
EuroNews, International news, Ecully Cedex, France
ECONOMY: Christine Lagarde becomes first female IMF chief
France 24, Issy-les-Moulineaux, France
Russia threatens to cut power supplies to Belarus
Hurriyet Daily News, (Liberal, English-language), Istanbul, Turkey
At least 10 dead in Taliban attack on Kabul hotel
Independent The, London, England
Belarus faces electricity cut-off
Moscow News The, Independent, Moscow, Russia
Egypt police clash with protesters
Radio Free Europe, Prague, Czech Republic
Mission accomplished? What mission, exactly?
Spiked, (Alternative Internet Magazine), London, England
Prince of Wales's household grows and spending increases, annual accounts show
Telegraph The, Conservative daily, London, England
Lady Gaga dismisses Japan wristband lawsuit claims
Telegraph The, Celebrity news, London, England
NATO not targeting Kadhafi: Obama adviser
Antara News, News agency, Jakarta, Indonesia
Taiwan's anti-human trafficking efforts earn Tier 1 ranking
China Post, English-language daily, Taipei, Taiwan
Kim Jong-il and his Henchman must stand trial for genocide
Chosun Ilbo, Conservative daily, Seoul, South Korea
Pope uses iPad, Twitter to launch new Vatican website
Computer World, IT information, Fairfax, New Zealand
Thai insurgency edges into election debate
Daily Jang, Left-wing daily, Karachi, Pakistan
Iran fires medium-range missile in war game
Dawn, English-language daily, Karachi, Pakistan
NATO helicopters end Kabul hotel siege, 10 killed
Hindustan Times, New Delhi, India
Goa's battle against mining reaches London
India Times, Conservative daily, New Delhi, India
Disaster-hit get marathon invite
Japan Times, Independent centrist, Tokyo, Japan
Thai insurgency edges into election debate
News The, Left-wing, Karachi, Pakistan
11 dead as Kandahar clashes enter 2nd day
Pajhwok Afghan News, (Independent news agency), Kabul, Afghanistan
Chinese dissident freed; more surveillance feared
Sify News, Chennai, India
Images of Hugo Chavez shown to quell health rumors
Straits Times, Pro-government, Singapore
Xinzhuang blacksmith preserves traditional knife-forging craft
Taiwan Today, Government Information Office, Taipei, Taiwan
BSF opens fire near Jammu border
Thaindian News, Bangkok, Thailand
Temasek unit Singbridge in $356 mn China business park venture
The Economic Times, Business, Mumbai, India
Key US Senate panel votes to authorise Libya operation
Times of India, Conservative, New Delhi, India
NATO chopper airstrikes end deadly Kabul hotel attack
Canadian Broadcasting Centre, Toronto, Ontario
Authorities torch 6.8 tons of drugs seized in just a few months
Dominican Today, Independent daily, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Photos of Hugo Chavez released to ease rumours of poor health
Globe and Mail The, Centrist daily, Toronto, Canada
Australia's small businesses must brace for tougher year
International Business Times, Business news organization, New York, U.S
Wall St up again on Greece, but investors skittish
Reuters, Business News, New York, U.S
It has nothing to do with FIFA
Trinidad Guardian, Independent daily, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad
Sudan pro-south rebels to disarm
BBC News, Centrist newscaster, London, England
'Libya must arrest Gaddafi'
iafrica, Online news portal, Cape Town, South Africa
MYANMAR: Government open to microcredit expansion
Irin News, Humanitarian news and analysis, Nairobi, Kenya
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