Flood | SilverScorpio.Com

Yuan edges up in NDFs, political risks re-emerge

June 25, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

SHANGHAI, June 24 (Reuters) – Dollar/yuan offshore forwards edged lower on Thursday, implying slightly higher yuan appreciation that dealers said was now settling at reasonable levels after the weekend’s official depegging from the dollar, although political risks resurfaced.

Political concerns intensified overnight when several U.S. lawmakers renewed calls for legislation to press China on yuan appreciation, casting uncertainty over how willing the People’s Bank of China will be to allow the yuan to move in the short term and making even a slight yuan rise implied in NDFs appear potentially risky.

Spot yuan CNY=CFXS drifted lower against the dollar as some banks and their clients now have too few dollars on hand, after the PBOC’s weekend announcement it would depeg the yuan from the the U.S. currency spurred them to aggressively sell dollars on Monday, to bet on yuan appreciation.

Trading was sluggish on Thursday, after China’s state-owned banks bought dollars heavily on behalf of the PBOC in the spot market on Tuesday and continued sporadic buying on Wednesday, dealers said, effectively helping the Chinese central bank to take back control of the yuan’s value by draining dollar supply.

“After a flood of dollars into the (spot) market, those who sold them too cheaply early in the week must buy them back at higher prices if they need them,” said a dealer at a major Chinese commercial bank in Shanghai.

“The market has had to learn that the central bank is still in firm control of the yuan’s value. With speculation dying down, real demand is pushing the dollar slightly higher.”

The yuan was quoted at 6.8134 to the dollar at midday, slightly weaker than Wednesday’s close of 6.8124 and Thursday’s central bank mid-point of 6.8100, which was little changed from Wednesday’s mid-point of 6.8102.

The yuan moved in a 57-pip range on Thursday, shrinking from the daily ranges of 300 pips or more early in the week but still much wider than the moves of only a few pips per day seen during most of the two-year dollar peg. <^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Full coverage [ID:nCHINATAKE] PDF on yuan: r.reuters.com/fuk43m Yuan microsite: china.thomsonreuters.com/yuan/ Yuan graphics: r.reuters.com/byq23m Insider TV

-- Yuan to rise before G20 link.reuters.com/jes92m

-- Yuan shows confidence link.reuters.com/hyc33m

-- Some see delay tactic link.reuters.com/xad33m ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>

POLITICAL RISKS

U.S. senators said on Wednesday they were unmoved by China’s steps to partially free the yuan since the weekend and vowed to push forward legislation to punish a yuan misalignment they say distorts trade and steals U.S. jobs. [ID:nN23216546]

China announced over the weekend that it would allow the yuan’s exchange rate to move more freely but it has made it clear that its currency reform would be gradual and controllable.

It is widely believed in the domestic market that China will not concede any more from its present stance and fresh pressures from U.S. lawmakers are very likely to backfire.

“Market and economic conditions have changed so much since the global financial crisis that it is unrealistic to think China still has firm plans to allow the yuan to appreciate to a certain degree in a certain period of time,” said a senior trader at a major European bank in Shanghai.

“The best China can do is to show that it is friendly, it is cooperative and it is willing to change in line with market and economic conditions.”

The latest euro zone debt crisis has cast doubt on the pace of China’s economic recovery, giving a warning to Beijing once again how vulnerable the world’s third-largest economy is to a global slowdown.

Chinese economists often argue that Western critics underestimate that vulnerability, especially given how far China’s per capita income lags developed countries.

They say it may be inappropriate to apply Western standards to the currency of a country whose per capita GDP is only one-20th that of the United States.

Caution about Beijing’s stance was reflected in the offshore forwards markets, where speculators were wary about shorting dollars and suspected that Beijing’s currency moves after the weekend were aimed primarily at appeasing critics before the G20 summit late this week.

Benchmark one-year dollar/yuan NDFs CNY1YNDFOR= eased to 6.6670 bid by midday from Wednesday’s close of 6.6700, with implied yuan appreciation over that period rising to 2.14 percent from 2.10 percent the previous day.

Three-month NDFs’ implied yuan appreciation rose to 0.62 percent from Wednesday’s 0.56 percent, as measured from the central bank’s spot mid-point. (Editing by Edmund Klamann)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Bank Of China, chinese central bank, CNY, currency, flood, forwards, June 24, lawmakers, Mid Point, midday, PBOC, pip, pips, Political Concerns, reuters, s central, shanghai, speculation, uncertainty, Yuan

Floods destroy Keith Urban’s musical equipment

May 7, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Floods destroy Keith Urban’s musical equipment

London, May 7 (ANI): A flood that hit Nashville, Tennessee seems to have destroyed Keith Urban’s guitars and other equipment, and his gear that he kept in the storage facility.

The country singer, who was about to begin work on a new album, was forced to stop after severe storms caused flooding across the city.

“I wish we could talk to each other under better circumstances. I am actually in the studio recording. We were supposed to start yesterday, but we could not get all the trucks in to get all my equipment out of this big storage facility.

“We thought we would leave it a day and hoped the waters would subside, but instead they continued to go up and up.

“At this stage it is possible that I have lost all my equipment, all my road equipment, and all of my guitars and amps, everything. We have to wait and see to what extent the waters came up… but we know it is not good,” The Daily Express quoted the Sweet Thing hitmaker as speaking with CNN anchor Rick Sanchez.

The star is however grateful that he and wife Nicole Kidman survived the disaster that is estimated to have killed 29 people so far.

He adds, “This pales in comparison, people have lost everything… We are certainly financially helping, my wife and I are.”

Other stars Toby Keith and Brad Paisley have also had their equipment damaged by water. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: amps, Brad Paisley, cnn, cnn anchor, country singer, daily express, flood, floods, hitmaker, keith urban, nashville tennessee, new album, Nicole Kidman, Pales In Comparison, rick sanchez, severe storms, storage facility, Sweet Thing, Toby Keith, wife nicole kidman

CBI arrests senior Home Ministry official for graft

April 28, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Apr 28 (ANI): Senior Home Ministry official O Ravi was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday on charges of corruption.

Ravi was a 1983 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer belongs to Gujarat cadre and is currently holding the office of the Joint Secretary (Disaster Management) with the Union Home Ministry.

A CBI team, raided Ravi’s residence here this morning.

The CBI has charged Ravi of accepting a Rs 50 lakh in bribe from one Alok Khimani.

Khimani is a distiller in Daman and Diu.

He was facing huge tax evasion charges slapped on him by the present administrator of the Union Territory.

Khimani reportedly wanted to influence the current officer through Ravi.

Ravi’s name figured prominently in the media when a devastating flood hit parts of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in August 2009.

Ravi led one of the Central teams which visited flood affected areas to assess the damage. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Andhra Pradesh, bribe, cbi team, central bureau of investigation, corruption, Daman, disaster management, distiller, flood, Gujarat, Indian Administrative Service, Karnataka, lakh, ministry official, New Delhi, Ravi Ravi, rs 50, Tax Evasion Charges, Union Home Ministry, union territory

How Sarah Palin is helping Tina Fey become richer

April 24, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

London, April 24 (ANI): Tina Fey, who won an Emmy for her satirical portrayal of Sarah Palin, says playing the former Alaska governor has been quite lucrative for her.

Fey, 39, stepped into Palin”s shoes once again for Saturday Night Live last week – the first time after 2008.

“Every time I played her I made 400 US dollars, so blammo,” the Mirror quoted Fey, as saying.

Fey also revealed she never thought she looked like Palin.

She recollected: “I looked at her and thought she had brown hair and glasses, we don”t look alike. Then my husband said: ”No, you guys look alike!” And then it became a flood of emails from cousins and calls, and it became apparent that whether or not we did look that much alike, that people thought we looked alike.”

Fey added: “That”s all. It did end up being a gift.” (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Alaska governor, April 24, brown hair, Cousins, emmy, flood, glasses, London, mirror, portrayal, Sarah Palin, saturday night live, shoes, tina fey

Fishermen not respecting sacred sites, court told

April 17, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

A court has heard commercial barramundi fishermen are not respecting sacred Aboriginal sites in the Northern Territory.

Commercial barramundi fisherman Darren Murray was this morning fined $5,000 after pleading guilty to setting up a gill net on a sacred site in the Blyth River in northern Arnhem Land.

The Darwin Magistrates Court heard Murray deliberately entered the river mouth, which has been a registered sacred site since 1985.

In a submission to the court, traditional owners said they have had problems with commercial fishermen for a long time, as “they sneak in and out of the estuary at night”.

They said fisherman did not respect Aboriginal law or culture.

They said when fishermen entered the sacred site, “it’s like a curse. We get sick and our children get sick” and their “dreamings will be chased away”.

Murray’s lawyer, Peter Maley, told the court that the fisherman has had trouble selling his wild barramundi catch because of the flood of “cheap imports coming in from Indonesia” and “restaurants preferring to buy that at a significantly reduced price.”

Mr Maley said the Territory’s wild barramundi industry was “under siege” from imports.

He said Murray was going to get out of the fishing industry because of this pressure.

The court heard Murray has been to court for two similar offences in the past decade.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Aboriginal Law, arnhem land, Barramundi, Blyth River, Cheap Imports, Commercial Fishermen, curse, darwin, decade, Estuary, fisherman, Fishing Industry, flood, Gill Net, lawyer, long-time, magistrates court, Maley, Northern Territory, River Mouth

Ex-Howard minister gets tertiary appointment

April 10, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Adelaide University has appointed former Howard government minister Robert Hill as its new chancellor.

The former South Australian senator replaces John von Doussa QC.

He will retire in July after six years in the role.

Mr Hill says Adelaide University is financially sound but needs more infrastructure to cope with rising educational demand.

He says one third of students at the university are from overseas, but the competition is getting tougher to attract them.

“You won’t get the same flood that’s come in recent years, you’ll have to go out and compete for students whereas there hasn’t been so much need for competition in the past,” he said.

“I don’t think it’s been an over-reliance, it’s happened very quickly but I think it’s been a good thing overall.”

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: adelaide, Adelaide University, appointment, Australia, Australian Senator, Chancellor, Education, Educational Demand, flood, Government Minister, government-and-politics, howard government, Infrastructure, Liberal Party, Reliance, Sa, six years, university-and-further-education

Recovery team aids flood-hit community

April 8, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

The State Government has sent a recovery team to Burketown in north-west Queensland’s Gulf country to help in the flood clean-up effort.

The Albert River at Burketown peaked at a record level earlier this week and floodwaters have isolated the community.

Emergency Management Queensland spokesman Bruce Grady will lead the team, which includes representatives from the Department of Main Roads and Economic Development.

Mr Grady says they will be consulting residents about what assistance is needed.

“So is there anything that the community needs from an economic perspective, what does that community need to get their economy up and running again, issues with infrastructure, principally around the roads network up there and if we have any we are also likely to deal with any environmental issues,” he said.

Meanwhile, Telstra says floodwaters have inundated telecommunications equipment in the Gulf and has affected phone lines.

Some residents in the region say they have been without a proper phone connection for almost a month.

Telstra spokesman Wally Donaldson says it is trying to access those properties but that continues to be difficult.

“Unfortunately it is a harsh environment and when you get that much rain, cyclones, the ongoing wet season, it’s a really difficult environment for any sort of electronics, so … we’re always looking at what we do, we put more optical fibre in to make our telephone exchanges much more robust and reliable,” he said.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: burketown, cairns, Community Emergency, Department Of Main Roads, donaldson, economic development, Economic Perspective, Emergency Incidents, emergency management, emergency-planning, environmental issues, flood, floods, floodwaters, harsh environment, longreach0, Mount Isa, Optical Fibre, Queensland, roads network, spokesman, state government, telecommunications equipment, Telephone Exchanges, telstra, Wally, Wet Season

Flood-hit roads remain closed

April 8, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Cook Shire Mayor Peter Scott says extensive repairs will have to be completed before Cape York Peninsula roads reopen after flooding.

Councillor Scott says there has been major damage to the road network with local travel still restricted.

He says the situation is being closely monitored.

“We continually monitor this because we are very conscious of people wanting to get up here and also the need for our businesses to kick off their season as well, so as soon as it’s practical we’ll get those roads open,” he said.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Cape York Peninsula, councillor, flood, Local Travel, shire

Chinese mine flood relatives fear toll cover-up

April 3, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Families and survivors of a flood feared to be one of China’s worst mine accidents in recent years say officials are covering up the true number of people trapped underground and failing in rescue efforts.

World | China

The local government has not published the names of the 153 miners it says were unable to escape when water surged into the pit on Sunday afternoon, prompting Vice-Premier Zhang Dejiang to demand a list of potential victims, local media reported.

“Is 153 the exact number?” Zhang, sent to direct rescue efforts shortly after the accident, was quoted asking mine officials in a conference call.

“I don’t think the suspicion from the public is unreasonable,” he added, according to the Beijing News.

At the mine itself relatives waiting for news of their fathers, sons and brothers, and survivors keen to help out with rescue efforts all told Reuters the official toll was too low.

“We sent 10 tramcars down to the pit before the flooding and each car usually carries 44 miners and a driver,” a tramcar driver who was working on the day of the accident said.

“Only one car came back up the shaft, plus a few dozen miners who escaped on foot,” he said, suggesting nearly 450 people could have been underground at the time of the flood.

Officials say 261 people were working in the unfinished Wangjialing mine, in northern Shanxi province, and 108 escaped. Even those who do not question the total number underground say

there may be more than 153 still trapped.

“At least 200 people are trapped,” said a mine worker surnamed Li, unwilling to give his full name because of official pressure not to speak to foreign media.

“I was working in the checkpoint at the entry of the pit, so I’m quite sure about how many people had gone underground.”

A Shanxi government official said they had heard there were a lot of suspicions, but insisted the number was accurate.

“We have checked this many times, so it should be the exact number,” said the official from the province’s foreign affairs office, who gave only his surname, Cao, and said he did not know why names were not being released.

SURVIVAL HOPES?

Some miners were working on platforms above current water levels and may have survived, the official Xinhua agency said.

Sounds from the pit, which may have been someone pounding on the pipelines, were heard on Friday morning, CCTV news reported. One of the rescue workers told Reuters they had found a piece of wire tied onto a pipeline sent into the flooded zone.

But five days of rescue efforts have reduced water levels barely a meter, the Xinhua report added.

“The pipelines are too thin to pump water fast enough,” the daughter of a trapped miner told Reuters, requesting anonymity.

“My father will not be killed by the flooding, but by these rescuers,” she added.

China has ordered the consolidation or takeover of many private mines in order to improve oversight and safety.

It credits the shutdown of many of the most dangerous private mines with helping to reduce the death toll in the coal industry to about 2,600 last year from over 3,000 the year before.

But the deadliest accidents are not limited to private firms. The Wangjialing mine was a high-profile project belonging to a joint venture between China National Coal Group and Shanxi Coking Coal Group, two of China’s larger state-owned firms.

Relatives and some Chinese media have blamed the firms for ignoring safety requirements in their push to start operations.

Miners found water in the pit as early as three days before the accident, but the managers just said: “How can you be afraid of a little bit of water?” the worker surnamed Li said.

“They did not treat migrant workers as human beings,” he added.

(Writing by Yu Le and Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by Benjamin Kang Lim and Jerry Norton)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: accidents, BEIJING, checkpoint, Dejiang, exact number, flood, government official, Local Government, Local Media, miners, Potential Victims, rescue efforts, reuters, shaft, shanxi province, Sons And Brothers, sunday afternoon, survivors, suspicion, suspicions, True Number, underground, world china

Chinese mine flood relatives fear toll cover-up

April 3, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

* Officials refuse to publish list of names of trapped

* Survivors say fewer than 108 escaped, more trapped

* Possible indications of life heard on Friday morning

XIANGNING, China, April 2 (Reuters) – Families and survivors of a flood feared to be one of China’s worst mine accidents in recent years say officials are covering up the true number of people trapped underground and failing in rescue efforts.