Romania – Factors to Watch on June 16

June 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

June 16 (Reuters) – Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Romanian financial markets on Wednesday.

Energy

GOVERNEMNT MEETING

The centrist coalition government holds weekly government meeting at 0600 GMT with no major items on the preliminary agenda.

FINANCIAL SEMINAR

Central bank governor Mugur Isarescu is expected to attend a seminar about small and medium sized enterprises.

Central bank chief economist Valentin Lazea and Isarescu’s adviser Lucian Croitoru are also expected to attend.

CURRENT ACCOUNT

The central bank is expected to release 4-month current account data.

ROMANIAN GOVT SURVIVES AUSTERITY CONFIDENCE VOTE

Romania’s centrist coalition government survived a no-confidence vote in parliament on Tuesday over planned drastic spending cuts, a key step towards securing international aid for its recession-hit economy.

[ID:nLDE65E06I]

ROMANIA’S IMF DEAL STILL AT RISK AFTER VOTE

Romania’s vital IMF deal could yet be derailed by legal challenges and investors will still worry about public finances, even after the coalition government survived a no-confidence vote on Tuesday.

[ID:nLDE65E29Q]

BUDGET REVISION

A budget revision tu cut spending could take place in the next two or three weeks, Finance Minister Sebastian Vladescu said.

Gandul, page 5

FITCH GDP FCAST

Romania’s economy will drop by 1 percent in 2010 and no significant improvement of the country’s rating is expected in the next period, Richard Hunter, Fitch Group Managing Director for European and Asian Corporates was paraphrased as saying.

Ziarul Financiar, Page 2

CARS

Car registrations dropped 49 percent on the year in January-May in Romania, to about 26,300 units.

Ziarul Financiar, Page 11

GOVERNMENT RESHUFFLE

A government reshuffle could take place in about two weeks, a minister who did not want to be named told daily Gandul.

Gandul, Page 1

*The number of ministries in the government could be reduced to 9 or 10, sources said. Also, at Wednesday’s government meeting the ministers are expected to come up with proposals to reduce the number of deputy ministers.

Evenimentul Zilei, Page 2

WIND TURBINES FACTORY

Swiss company Windex plans to build a 25-million-euro wind turbine factory in the south-eastern Constanta county in two months.

Romania Libera, Page 3

NOTE- For a diary of forthcoming Romanian events, double

click [RO/DIARY], and a calendar of east European economic indicators, see [CONV/DIARY].

For other related news, double click on: ————————————————————— Romania Market Debt [RO-DBT] Romanian forex [RO-FRX] Romania Market Report [ROL/] Romanian money [RO-M] Emerging Market Debt [EMRG/DBT] Emerging forex [EMRG/FRX] All Emerging Markets news [EMRG] CEE indicators [CONV/DIARY] All East Europe News [EEU] E.Europe equities [.CEE] TOP NEWS — Emerging markets [TOP/EMRG] TOP NEWS — Convergence watch [TOP/EAST] Romanian indicators [RO/ECI] Main page of Reuters poll —————————————————————

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Some 440 medical pot shops ordered to close in L.A.

June 9, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Around 440 self-described medical marijuana dispensaries across Los Angeles were under orders to close on Monday, nearly five months after city officials voted to shut most of them down.

U.S. | Health

An estimated 135 dispensaries may remain legally open as of Monday as a new city law formally takes effect. City leaders hope to eventually whittle that number down to 70 and confine them to mostly industrial areas, away from schools, parks, libraries and churches.

“We’re trying to achieve some order out of what has essentially been a very chaotic situation,” Assistant City Attorney Asha Greenberg told Reuters in an interview.

“We will have a limited number of medical marijuana establishments that are not close to sensitive sites and are not neighborhood nuisances,” she said

Greenberg said that 439 shops had been ordered to close. Any remaining open after Monday face law enforcement actions.

“As of today they should have their boxes packed and their closed sign up,” she said.

California became the first U.S. state to decriminalize cannabis for medical use in 1996 and a 2003 ballot measure permitted pot to be cultivated and distributed to patients holding prescriptions from a doctor. Since those developments, Los Angeles had seen roughly 1,000 of the shops spring up across the city.

Responding to residents who complained that many of the shops were catering more to recreational pot smokers than patients, the Los Angeles City Council voted in January to limit the number that could operate to between 70 and 187.

Legal challenges failed to stop the law taking effect.

Since the city council passed its law, a statewide voter initiative that would legalize the possession and sale of marijuana has qualified for the November ballot in what supporters have called a “watershed moment” for their cause.

It was unclear how that measure would affect Los Angeles’ ability to regulate medical marijuana, should it pass.

Under the ballot initiative, simple possession of an ounce (28.5 grams) or less of marijuana, currently a misdemeanor punishable by a $100 fine, would be legal for anyone aged 21 or older. It also would be lawful to grow limited amounts in one’s own home for personal use.

While sales would not be legalized outright, cities and counties could pass laws permitting commercial distribution subject to local regulations and taxes. Retail sales would still be limited to an ounce for adults 21 and older.

(Editing by Alan Elsner)

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Nigeria president urges electoral reform by year-end

May 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday vowed to ensure elections due by next April were free and fair and called for the passage of electoral reforms by the end of the year.

In a broadcast to the nation to mark Democracy Day, which celebrates the end of military rule just over a decade ago, Jonathan said the challenge for Africa’s most populous nation was to hold elections in which every vote counted.

“That is why the consummation of the process of electoral reform is a collective task that must be done this year,” he said in the address.

“Let me once again assure all Nigerians that this time, under my watch, all votes will count.”

Jonathan is keen to avoid the sort of shambolic elections which brought late president Umaru Yar’Adua to power in 2007, polls so marred by ballot-stuffing and voter intimidation that independent observers deemed them not to be credible.

Electoral reform legislation has been before parliament for months but time is quickly running out for meaningful changes to be implemented ahead of the next polls, due by April 2011.

One of the recommendations is a six-month buffer between polling day and the swearing in, which always takes place in May, to allow the resolution of legal challenges. That could mean polls as early as the end of the year.

An unwritten agreement in the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) states that the office of president should rotate between the Muslim north and Christian south every two terms.

Late President Umaru Yar’Adua, who died at the start of May, was a northerner in his first term meaning the ruling party nominee should be another northerner who can complete at least the second term.

But Jonathan has not ruled out standing and has won support from some northern politicians, even though a bid by him could split the PDP, which has won all of the past three elections since the end of military rule in 1999.

Critics say the PDP’s overwhelming dominance in national politics — with a strong majority in both houses of parliament and control of over three quarters of Nigeria’s 36 states — has turned Nigeria into a virtual one-party state.

The powerful governors’ caucus in the party has handpicked presidential nominees who have always gone on to win the polls, leading some Nigerians to question the relevance of Democracy Day, meant to commemorate the day in 1999 when Olusegun Obasanjo become the first elected leader since the end of military rule.

“For the parties to be relevant in the nation’s democratic enterprise, it is compulsory that a regime of internal party democracy must prevail,” Jonathan said.

Jonathan also took the opportunity to announce a new salary scale for public workers to address “pay distortions”, but gave no details, and said 10 billion naira ($67 million) would be disbursed in loans for civil servants to buy their own homes.

(For more Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://af.reuters.com/ )

(Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)

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Hundreds unable to vote in British election

May 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, May 7 (DPA) Hundreds of people were unable to vote in Britain’s general election because of long queues at polling stations and, in one instance, a shortage of ballot papers, it emerged Friday.

The Electoral Commission watchdog said it had ordered a ‘thorough review’ into incidents around the country in which people were unable to cast their votes by the time polls closed at 10 p.m. (2100 GMT Thursday).

The commission said the incidents were cause for ‘serious concern.’

In the northern English city of Sheffield, police were called to move people on when voters staged sit-in protests after waiting hours to vote.

It was reported that some polling stations ran out of ballot papers because of Thursday’s unexpectedly high turnout.

Commentators said the incidents could lead to legal challenges by candidates.

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New legal panel to focus on climate change

March 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The Victorian Bar is forming a panel of barristers to specialise in cases involving climate change.

It is expecting to have a heavy workload, testing out new government regulations likely to be introduced to deal with global warming.

Melbourne barrister Adrian Finanzio says, like it or not, climate change and lawyers have a lot in common.

“Any attempt to address climate change will necessarily involve legislative and regulatory change and that is the province of lawyers, both as advisers but also as advocates,” he said.

Mr Finanzio is part of what he believes is an Australian first – a formal group for barristers who want to specialise in climate change.

Fellow barrister Jane Treleaven says as the climate change debate goes on in public, the science will inevitably come up in the courtroom.

“Cases which examine the possible consequences of climate change will no doubt involve a debate which is founded on the science of climate change and what impacts it may or may not have,” she said.

Mr Finanzio says development in low-lying coastal areas is already shaping up as a legal issue and it is one which is expected to generate more work for lawyers.

“That is just one example of the way in which changes to the environment may produce changes to the regulatory regime and those changes may have an impact on ordinary people who own land in that kind of situation,” he said.

Bushfires

Ms Treleaven says another example has received attention at the Bushfires Royal Commission.

“There are some projections about the impact that climate change may or may not have on the intensity of bushfires in the future,” she said.

“So we may also see regulatory change in that regard, planning and rezoning of areas which may then be impacted by increased bushfire risk.”

Mr Finanzio will not speculate on who could be blamed for climate change in the future but that question could form the basis for some major legal challenges.

Mr Finanzio points to a case in the US where a state is suing a power company.

“[It is] premised on the power company expelling carbon into the atmosphere causing a nuisance by virtue of its contribution to global warming,” he said.

“I think we can expect to see that kind of litigation. We’ve seen much of it in different fields over the last 10 or 15 years. That is one type of litigation in which members of this bar may become involved [in] on a pro bono basis or on a basis that is fee reduced.”

But he is keen to emphasise the barristers on the panel are not a bunch of activists.

“We will not, as barristers, be simply conduits for antagonists who wish to take on the industry and so on. That is not the object,” he said.

The Victorian Bar’s climate change panel will be launched next week.

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Mittal may buy out Briatore from QPR after F-1 match fixing controversy

September 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, Sep 20 (ANI): Steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal is now considering buying out Falvio Briatore stake at Queens Park Rangers after he was engulfed in controversy as manager of Renault’s Formula One team.

Briatore, the Italian playboy, ordered a racing driver to crash his car deliberately last year, costing him his job.

The Indian billionaire was persuaded by Briatore to become an investor in Queens Park Rangers football club in 2007, but is now reportedly reconsidering his ties with the flamboyant tycoon, The Telegraph reports.

Mittal, who remains one of the wealthiest men in the world, is represented at the club by the popular board member and his son-in-law, Amit Bhatia.

“Lakshmi is extremely concerned about what has happened,” said one of his associates.

“He is keen to improve his image in this country and takes this matter very seriously. He is now considering whether the best way forward would be for him to buy Flavio out of QPR,” the source added.

Briatore could potentially be extradited to Singapore to face criminal charges in the wake of his departure from Renault in connection with the race-fixing claims.

There are also legal challenges open to Ferrari and their driver Felipe Massa, who missed out on last year’s world drivers’ crown by a single point; and to Renault itself, which may want to sue its former employees for allegedly bringing the company’s name into disrepute. (ANI)

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Inquiry to be held into UK’s anti-terror raids

April 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, Apr 23 (ANI): An independent inquiry is likely to be held into the anti-terrorist operation that led to the resignation of a senior British policeman, armed raids, arrest and release of 11 Pakistani citizens without any charges being levied on them.

Lord Carlile of Berriew, the reviewer of terrorism legislation, said that he would carry out “a snapshot review” of the detention of 12 men picked up a fortnight ago in Manchester, Liverpool and Lancashire, amid claims of an Easter bomb plot.

The release of the final two suspects on Wednesday means that all 12 have been freed without charge. However, 11 of them, Pakistani citizens in Britain on student visas, face deportation on national security grounds, a process that is likely to spark lengthy legal challenges, The Times reported.

Lord Carlile said that he had personally decided to review Operation Pathway, details of which were accidentally disclosed to Downing Street photographers by Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick of Scotland Yard, forcing the arrests to be brought forward. Quick resigned, admitting that he had compromised the operation.

“I shall be requesting input into these events from all involved as soon as possible. This will include those arrested and their legal representatives,” he said.

The only British citizen among those freed was named locally as Hamza Shenwari, 41, a delivery driver, from Cheetham Hill, Manchester.

Neighbours said that Shenwari was staying at a hotel while police restored his home to the state it was in before extensive searches.

The failure of the operation raises questions about the level of co-operation between different anti-terror agencies.

MI5, Scotland Yard and Greater Manchester are said to have had angry disagreements about the timing of the arrests. (ANI)

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DNC Airs Radio Ad Calling on Norm Coleman to Put the People of Minnesota Ahead of…

April 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment

DNC Airs Radio Ad Calling on Norm Coleman to Put the People of Minnesota Ahead
of His Political Ambition and Concede Senate Race to Winner Al Franken

WASHINGTON, April 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Today, the Democratic National
Committee announced it will begin running a radio ad in Minneapolis/St. Paul
calling on Norm Coleman to concede the Minnesota Senate race to Democrat Al
Franken. The ad will run on news talk radio stations in the Twin Cities and
comes one day after a three judge panel in Minnesota decisively and
overwhelmingly declared Franken the winner of the contested race and said he
was entitled to an election certificate.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080519/DNCLOGO )

But instead of conceding, Coleman continues to put his political ambition
ahead of what’s right for Minnesotans who deserve full representation in the
U.S. Senate. Despite what analysts and many have called a hopeless cause,
Coleman is vowing to continue his appeals and legal challenges and cause
further delay in seating the rightful winner in the race, Al Franken.

“Enough is enough,” said DNC Chairman Tim Kaine. “Al Franken won the election,
the recount and now the legal challenge where his lead actually grew.
Minnesota deserves two Senators and the people of America deserve 100 in the
U.S. Senate. More importantly, the voters who cast ballots on Election Day
deserve to have their verdict stand. Senator Coleman should not put his
political ambition ahead of the will of the people. It’s time for Norm Coleman
to concede and for Al Franken to be sworn in as the next U.S. Senator from
Minnesota. If Mr. Coleman won’t concede, state officials should issue an
election certificate to Al Franken, as the three judge panel said he is
entitled to, so he can be sworn in immediately.”

To listen to the ad, click here:

http://www.democrats.org/page/-/audio/DNC_MN_Radio_Ad_04_15_09.mp3

Script below:

Coleman Radio Ad

DNC Ad, 4/14/09

Script: ANNC: “The November 4, 2008 election was conducted fairly,
impartially, and accurately.”

ANNC: “Franken received the highest number of lawfully cast ballots in the
November 4, 2008 general election for United States Senator for the State of
Minnesota and is entitled to receive the certificate of election.”

ANNC: That’s what a three judge panel said when it declared Al Franken the
winner of the U.S. Senate race.

Backup: MN Three Judge Panel: “The November 4, 2008 Election Was Conducted
Fairly, Impartially And Accurately.” “The overwhelming weight of the evidence
indicates that the Nov. 4, 2008, election was conducted fairly, impartially
and accurately,” the panel said in its unanimous decision. [Minneapolis
Star-Tribune, 4/14/09,

http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/42932907.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aU7DYaGEP7vDEh7P:DiUs]

MN Three Judge Panel: Franken “Received The Highest Number Of Votes Legally
Cast” In The Election And “Is Therefore Entitled To Receive The Certificate Of
Election.” The panel concluded that Franken, a DFLer, “received the highest
number of votes legally cast” in the election. Franken emerged from the trial
with a 312-vote lead, the court ruled, and “is therefore entitled to receive
the certificate of election.” [Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 4/14/09,

http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/42932907.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aU7DYaGEP7vDEh7P:DiUs]

Minneapolis Star-Tribune Headline: “Judges Rule Franken Winner.” [Minneapolis
Star-Tribune, 4/14/09,

http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/42932907.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aU7DYaGEP7vDEh7P:DiUs]

Script: ANNC: Franken won the election in November, he won the recount and now
he has won a legal challenge filed by Norm Coleman.

Backup: MN Three Judge Panel: Franken “Received The Highest Number Of Votes
Legally Cast” In The Election And “Is Therefore Entitled To Receive The
Certificate Of Election.” The panel concluded that Franken, a DFLer, “received
the highest number of votes legally cast” in the election. Franken emerged
from the trial with a 312-vote lead, the court ruled, and “is therefore
entitled to receive the certificate of election.” [Minneapolis Star-Tribune,
4/14/09,

http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/42932907.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aU7DYaGEP7vDEh7P:DiUs]

Minneapolis Star-Tribune Headline: “Judges Rule Franken Winner.” [Minneapolis
Star-Tribune, 4/14/09,

http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/42932907.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aU7DYaGEP7vDEh7P:DiUs]

January 2009: MN State Canvassing Board Certified The Results Of The Recount
In Favor Of Franken. “Democrat Al Franken declared victory in the hotly
contested Minnesota Senate race Monday, saying the win is ‘incredibly
humbling.’ The Minnesota State Canvassing Board on Monday certified the
results of the recount of Republican Sen. Norm Coleman’s fight to retain his
seat against Franken. The results showed Franken with a 225-vote lead.” [CNN,
1/6/09, http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/05/minnesota.recount/index.html]

Script: ANNC: Yet Coleman, and national Republicans who want to thwart the
will of the voters, have vowed to file more appeals and hopeless legal
challenges that will only result in more delay.

ANNC: Enough is enough. America is in an economic crisis – and Minnesota faces
unique challenges of its own.

ANNC: Minnesota deserves two Senators and voters deserve to have their verdict
stand without delay.

ANNC: Call Norm Coleman at 651-645-0766. Tell him that it is time to concede.

ANNC: Tell Norm Coleman to stop putting his political ambition ahead of what
is right for Minnesota.

ANNC: The Democratic National Committee is Responsible for the Content of this
advertising.

Backup: Coleman Campaign Reiterated That Coleman Will Be Appealing The Court’s
Ruling Declaring Al Franken The Winner Of The Senate Race. “Next stop for Norm
Coleman: the Minnesota Supreme Court. Coleman’s campaign attorney Ben Ginsberg
reiterated that Coleman will be appealing the court’s ruling declaring Al
Franken the winner of the Minnesota Senate race to the state Supreme Court and
accused the court of misunderstanding ‘a number of issues as well as what’s at
stake in the case.’ ‘Let me reiterate what we have said: Senator Coleman and
[Coleman spokesman] Cullen Sheehan will be appealing this decision from the
three-judge panel,’ Ginsberg said on a conference call this afternoon.
Ginsberg said that he will be filing the appeal to the state Supreme Court
‘within the 10-day-period’ allotted to the campaign.” [Politico, 4/14/09,

http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/0409/Coleman_appealing_court_decision.html]

Pawlenty Refused To Ask Coleman To Step Aside If He Lost And Said A Result
Would Take A “Few More Months.” O’DONNELL: “If this three-judge panel
tomorrow, after counting these ballots, says that Al Franken has the lead,
will you sign the election certificate that makes him Senator Al Franken?”
GOV. PAWLENTY: “The Minnesota Supreme Court said, in a recent decision, that a
certificate shouldn’t issue or — isn’t likely that it should issue until the
state court process has run its course. That would include the appellate
process. It’s pretty clear one side or the other’s going to take that next
step and it wouldn’t be appropriate for me or anyone else to step in front of
it. It’s frustrating that this is taking so long. But we need a proper and
just and accurate and legal result and it looks look it’s going to take a few
more months to get that.” [MSNBC, 4/6/09]

Sen. Cornyn Said That The Coleman-Franken Battle Could Rage For Years And Sen.
McConnell Said That The Court’s Decisions “Leaves No Other Choice But To
Continue The Process To Ensure That Every Legal Vote Is Counted.” “Sen. John
Cornyn, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told
POLITICO the Coleman-Franken legal battle could rage for years. On Thursday,
Cornyn chalked up the Democratic attacks to ‘saber rattling.’ ‘I think maybe
it’s possible that the litigation concludes [and] there is a clear answer
that’s been decided in court by an impartial tribunal,’ the Texas Republican
said, ‘and everybody can just put their guns on their table and walk away.’
… Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) issued a statement backing
Coleman, saying, ‘The court’s decision in Minnesota leaves no other choice but
to continue the process to ensure that every legal vote is counted.’”
[Politico, 4/3/09, http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/20835_Page2.html]

SOURCE Democratic National Committee

Caroline Ciccone, or Megan Jacobs, both at +1-202-255-9759

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