Bumper64

Wed Apr 14, 2010 12:16pm (Reuters) - Talks on an alliance between Iraq's two main Shi'ite Muslim blocs to form the next government appear to be nearing a conclusion, with the main sticking point being how to nominate a prime minister, officials said. continued.......... http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63D2X020100414

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and LARA JAKES (AP)

I think "boots on the ground info" is the best!! Please keep it up!!!! Thanks!

(AFP)

By DAVID RISING (AP)

Friday, April 2nd 2010 1:17 PM Baghdad, Apr. 2 (AKnews)

Sun, 11 Apr 2010 16:35:03 GMT The Iraqi premier's Rule of Law alliance has filed an official complaint over what it calls massive vote rigging in the March general elections. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's coalition secure 89 out of 325 parliamentary seats in the March 7 vote, two seats shy of former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's Iraqiya Party. A spokesman for the Rule of Law said on Sunday that up to 750,000 votes have been manipulated through fraud and that the coalition was seeking a recount in five provinces or at least in Baghdad

April 8, 2010, 5:12 am The Chinese government is very close to announcing a revision of its currency policy in the coming days that will allow greater variation in the value of its currency combined with a small but immediate jump in its value against the dollar, people with knowledge of the consensus emerging in Beijing said Thursday, Keith Bradsher reports in The New York Times. While the possibility remains of a last-minute glitch that could delay an announcement, China

English.news.cn 2010-04-08 21:15:47 BEIJING, April 8 (Xinhua) -- China's currency made headlines Thursday amid increased speculation the government will resume its appreciation, but analysts said it is too early to make such a conclusion. The central parity rate of the yuan, China's currency, also known as the renminbi (RMB), was unchanged from the previous day's 6.8259 per U.S. dollar on Thursday, the lowest since May 2009, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trading System. The strengthening of yuan was interpreted as a signal that China was about to resume yuan appreciation, after the U.S. Treasury Department announced it would delay the publication of a report that may have labeled China a "currency manipulator." However, it was still too early and arbitrary to make such a judgment based on several days' observation of the yuan's movement, said Zuo Xiaolei, an economist with the Beijing-based Galaxy Securities. Allowing the yuan to appreciate against the U.S. dollar without reforming the exchange rate formation mechanism would be "a disaster" for China, but reforming the mechanism does not mean allowing the yuan to appreciate, Zuo said. If the RMB started to strengthen against U.S. dollar under current conditions, expectations for further appreciation would be increased, which would accelerate the influx of speculative international capital and lead to serious inflation and asset bubbles in the country, she said. China unpegged the yuan from the U.S. dollar in July 2005 and allowed it to fluctuate against a basket of currencies. It gained 21 percent before stabilizing against the dollar in the middle of 2008. China's central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan indicated last month the current exchange rate policy was part of the country's stimulus package, and the country would cautiously choose the timing to move from the "special policy" to a "regular policy." Is China resuming yuan appreciation? English.news.cn 2010-04-08 21:15:47 FeedbackPrintRSS A strong and one-off yuan appreciation would cool the economy, hurt the world economic recovery and hurt overseas consumers' interests, said Xia Bin, a researcher with the Development Research Center under the State Council, China's Cabinet. Xia was one of the three economists named last month as members of the People's Bank of China's monetary policy committee, a key advisor in framing monetary policy. Zhang Ming, an economist with the Institute of World Economics and Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, expected the country to resume the pre-crisis exchange rate policy in the second quarter of the year and said a widening daily trading band for the yuan is also likely. At present, the yuan is allowed to float on the interbank market within a daily limit of 0.5-percent each way of the central parity rate. Many western countries have long held that China artificially keeps the yuan exchange rate undervalued to help domestic exporters. Some U.S. lawmakers even proposed legislation to impose tariffs on Chinese goods unless China allowed the yuan to climb. China has repeatedly rejected claims the yuan is undervalued and said it would keep the yuan stable at an appropriate and balanced level, stressing a stronger yuan cannot redress China-U.S. trade imbalance or help ease U.S. job losses. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2010-04/08/c_13243073.htm

Ports of Iraq signed a contract with Tanner for the rehabilitation of golf berth in Umm Qasr 2010-04-07 Basra (Iba) ... Ministry of Transport announced that "the Director-General of the General Company for Iraqi Ports, Salah Aboud Khudair signed with the General Manager of golf Tnralamaratnep contract for the rehabilitation of berth number 8 in the port of Umm Qasr under the contracts concluded by the joint operation of the ports with global firms." And the transfer of Director of Information Office at the Ministry Aqeel Kosar told the independent press (Iba) for the Abboud as saying, "This contract comes the belief of the ports in the private sector support and private investment and that the goal was not to maximize the resources, but is intended to introduce modern technology and we need it." He added, "There are many companies in the UAE would like to deal with us will witness the coming weeks engagements on the rehabilitation of berths 4 and 5 in Umm Qasr and that our work is aimed at rehabilitating pavements, squares and infrastructure of our ports as acts of electricity and provide fresh water and the establishment of networks of water drainage and electronic surveillance, training and rehabilitation cadres and the introduction of latest technologies and operating-mail to container yards. " For his part, General Manager of golf Tanner, "The company of the world's known and has successful projects in Asia and in Turkey and features quickly to take implementation decisions and the provision of financial allocation and it is interested in the process of operation and rehabilitation of local cadres and the Company will send four technicians from the Angels the company to the UAE for the work of the ports and gain experience and qualification http://www.ipairaq.com/index.php?name=inner&t=economy&id=23529

2010-04-07 BAGHDAD: President of the Administrative Board of the Association of private banks, Iraqi and Wadi Handal for an increase in total capital of private Iraqi banks from 30 million in 2004 to one billion and 600 million dollars now, except that owned by the branches of Arab and foreign banks operating in the country. He said in a press statement that the number of private banks rose from 17 banks in 2004 to 31 banks currently in the number of branches in Baghdad and other governorates from 100 to more than 600 branch to compete in the number and level of services in Iraq bank branches and rational. He said Handal said in remarks reported by Qatar News Agency "Qana" to private banks before the government in the level of services and use of modern technology where it has spent generously for Information Technology and software of modern banking and has linked its subsidiaries departmental public with modern communication devices to speed up the completion of transactions on the one hand and to increase oversight and supervision from the other side. He said that the banks, Iraqi special posts for Foreign Affairs of the Arab banks and foreign Jordan, Kuwait and the GCC, Iran, Britain and others has expanded its network of correspondents with international banks in international financial centers to complete the formalities for foreign trade of Iraq or to be transferred from Trade Bank of Iraq to cover the imports of some government departments in the financial aspects. The statements to the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance and expectations of the Prophet Fadel bankruptcy of a number of private banks, has raised questions about the role of these banks in the Iraqi economy in the light of the reality of work now. He said Undersecretary Fadel prophet to "the opening of a large number of private banks in a relatively short time, but you can not play its supposed to which led to the occurrence of some of the problems," expected, "the bankruptcy of a number of them." (End) / g / .. http://www.ipairaq.com/index.php?name=inner&t=economy&id=23533

(April 7) -- President Barack Obama's tougher line with China in recent months seems to be paying off, with U.S.-Chinese cooperation appearing to improve on both the economic and national-security fronts. A spokesman for Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner today announced that Geithner would travel to Beijing to meet with the Chinese vice premier for economic affairs on Thursday. Though their agenda wasn't made public, the decision to stop in China on the way back from Geithner's planned visit to India was widely read as a sign the two countries are close to settling a long, sometimes harsh dispute over currencies. The fight over China's government-controlled exchange rate between the yuan and the dollar touches on several key issues that contribute to U.S.-Chinese tension: American worries about jobs going overseas, China's concerns about keeping its own populace employed and nationalist politics on both sides of the Pacific. Geithner said in an interview with Bloomberg Television from Mumbai that a more flexible Chinese currency policy would be part of a "necessary" adjustment for Beijing. "They're becoming more open to the world, and with that, you're going to see the currency take on a broader role internationally," Geithner said. "That's a healthy, necessary adjustment." Since the Clinton administration, members of Congress and Treasury officials have accused China of keeping the yuan artificially low to keep American goods more expensive than Chinese rivals for buyers all over the world, and they have blamed the policy for the loss of tens of thousands and then hundreds of thousands of American manufacturing jobs. A diplomatic push from the Treasury under President George W. Bush prompted Beijing to slightly relax the daily trading bands for the yuan, which gained about 20 percent in value against the dollar from 2005 to 2008. But most economists still consider the dollar greatly overvalued against its Chinese counterpart, especially after a years-long decline that saw the dollar weakening against the euro, the Japanese yen and other currencies. It seems extremely unlikely that the two sides would schedule and announce Geithner's visit unless they expected progress. With U.S. midterm elections looming, the Obama administration is keenly aware of how potent the issue is for labor unions and states that produce textiles and other goods competing with the Chinese. And the Chinese leadership treats with hypersensitivity any U.S. action that could be interpreted as foreign interference with its internal affairs. So an announcement of any change to Chinese currency policy would likely be timed to save face, coming after Geithner's meetings, and probably after Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Washington next week for a conference on nuclear security. What's striking now is how quickly the tone of exchanges between the U.S. and China recovered after the increasingly bitter feud brewing since late last year -- and what that says about a possible U.S. ascendancy in global politics. In addition to Obama's frequent complaints about the yuan, the president in recent months has assailed China's human rights policies and its reluctance to back international pressure on Iran over the Iranian nuclear program. The president authorized the sale of U.S. arms to Taiwan -- considered a breakaway province by China -- and met at the White House with the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader China considers the top geopolitical thorn in its side. The administration has also harshly criticized Beijing for computer hacking of Google and other U.S. companies that originated in China. Then, late last week, in the space of 24 hours, China said it would take more seriously negotiations over U.N. sanctions on Iran and announced that Hu was coming to Obama's nuclear conference, followed by an hourlong phone conversation between Obama and Hu. The White House said the two leaders discussed the importance of implementing economic commitments made at meetings of the Group of 20 -- where China's currency policy has come under fire from the Europeans and competing Asian nations as well. Both sides have a lot to gain from cooperating. But it seems no coincidence that the positive diplomatic evolution comes at a time when the U.S. economy has been recovering faster than many of its rivals', fractious Continental politics has weakened Europe on the global stage (making the U.S. appear stronger) and passage of health care reform -- which captured front-page headlines worldwide -- has added to Obama's political capital both at home and abroad. History suggests the tone could quickly sour again, but if Geithner brings home from Beijing good news, that could strengthen Obama further. http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/how-china-may-hand-obama-a-surprise-win/19429797

Todds, if this continues to be a useless thread (after the first page) with nothing but bickering!! Just close it! There is no since in driving yourself crazy trying to make peace!

Apr 7th, 2010 BAGHDAD, April 7 (NNN-KUNA)

WASHINGTON, April 7 (Reuters) - The United States needs to take strong action to persuade China to raise the value of its currency, a top Democratic senator said on Wednesday. Senator Charles Schumer issued the statement in response to news that U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will hold talks on Thursday with Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan. The impromptu visit comes at the end of Geithner's trip to India and just days after he decided to delay a April 15 report on whether China or any other country is manipulating its currency for an unfair trade advantage. "Every administration has thought it could get something done by talking to China. But years of experience have shown that the Chinese will not be moved by words; they only respond to tough action," Schumer said in a statement. Schumer has sponsored a bill threatening China with tariffs on some of its exports to the United States if Beijing does not allow the yuan to rise significantly in value http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSWAT01427520100407

2010-04-07 09:39 (UTC) BEIJING, April 7 (Reuters) - Beijing should adopt a more flexible currency regime by allowing market forces to play a greater role, a professor at the Chinese central bank's graduate school said. Wu Nianlu argues in the latest issue of China Finance magazine that Beijing should press ahead with reforming currency policies by 'easing controls and strengthening supervision'. Wu's commentary in the Chinese-language magazine, which is issued by the bank and reached subscribers on Wednesday, appears to echo discussion among policymakers over what to do with the yuan as foreign pressure mounts on Beijing to let the currency rise. Beijing let the yuan, also known as the renminbi (RMB), rise 21 percent against the U.S. dollar between July 2005 and July 2008 before effectively repegging the currency near 6.83 to the dollar to help the economy through the financial crisis. Speculation that Beijing will let the yuan start rising in the next few months has been boosted by an easing of public Sino-U.S. rancour over the currency in recent days. Wu makes the case that China should 'set the future direction for adjusting the renminbi exchange rate' after closely monitoring market conditions and the health of other economies. Reform could lead to a more flexible exchange rate mechanism, writes Wu. 'Above all, it should return to being based on market supply and demand, with an exchange rate system that refers to a basket of currencies.' When Beijing freed the yuan from its dollar peg in July 2005, it said it would manage the exchange rate with reference to a basket of currencies. In practice, though, China has focused on the yuan's rate against the dollar. 'This kind of reform will further stress the role of market supply and demand in affecting the direction of the exchange rate...,' he said. Chinese policymakers have sent varied messages over how they may handle pressure on the yuan, which the United States and other major economies say is set much too low against the dollar, giving Chinese manufacturers an unfair advantage. The Commerce Ministry's repeated warnings that many companies would be ruined and millions of jobs lost if the yuan strengthened stand in contrast to the central bank's signals that it would welcome a more flexible currency to damp inflation. Analysts say the two institutions will eventually reach a compromise, possibly by mid-year. http://www.xe.com/news/2010/04/07/1060893.htm?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=TL&utm_content=NOGEO&utm_campaign=News_RSS_Art7

"I think a more realistic deadline is the beginning of Ramadan at the start of August," Just remember that this is Crockers opinion!!

Apr. 7, 2010, 6:21 AM There have been a lot of false starts, but once again some yuan-hike murmurings are coming out of China: Reuters: In another sign that Beijing might be nearing a consensus about appreciation, the central bank set the yuan's daily mid-point, its key reference rate, at 6.8259 to the dollar, the highest since May last year, though still well within the tight range of the past 20 months. "We should keep the yuan basically stable at a balanced and reasonable level, while strengthening analysis and monitoring and making announcements about risks in a timely manner to reduce exporters' risks and losses," the NDRC was quoted as saying by the official China Securities Journal. When and if it happens, it will be a surprise for many, but at the same time preparations will have to be made ahead of time. So one shouldn't completely discount government actions, even if this feels like the same old song and dance. Note this comes right after Geithner's 'no, it's China's choice' move yesterday. Yes, we know, correlation doesn't necessarily imply causation. http://www.businessinsider.com/china-does-micro-yuan-hike-and-suggests-yuan-flexibility-2010-4

April 7, 2010 by admin (CNN) -- Hours after insurgents killed dozens of people on Tuesday in a new wave of bomb attacks in Baghdad, former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said he hopes to soon form a new government after claiming victory in the March 7 ballot. "We need the (election) results to be officially announced by the Supreme Court, and then I guess it will take us in the range of two months to form ... I hope to form ... a government," Allawi told CNN's Christiane Amanpour. Allawi said he believes his Iraqiya bloc, which has a narrow two-seat lead in parliament over his main rival, has the right to form the next government under the country's constitution. Iraqiya won 91 seats and current Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's State of the Law coalition won 89 seats, according to the provisional election results. "We can't just have a national unity government, a government which has been stagnant as the current government has been," he said. "We need to have a government that can function and can provide, especially for the security of this country." His comments came amid new concerns that security in Iraq is beginning to unravel in what many say is a political vacuum following the elections. Insurgents exploded at least seven bombs in Baghdad on Tuesday, killing more than 30 people and wounding 140 others. It was the latest in a series of attacks that have killed more than 100 people in five days. "I expected this violence, especially after the elections, because there is a vacuum, and there is indeed a constitutional vacuum at this time," Allawi said. "And indeed the terrorists and groups who are linked to terrorism would find the political environment useful for them to start damaging and inflicting more damage on the Iraqi people." continued.......... Farther down in the post The former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, said he was not concerned about the potential role of al-Sadr's supporters in a coalition government. Crocker said: "The Sadrists have always had an appeal to the dispossessed urban Shia populations, and they finally found a way to get their act together sufficiently to garner a respectable number of seats." "But clearly they are not going to form a government," he said. "They may be instrumental in the government's formation, but they're going to have to be part of the give-and-take of Iraqi politics as well." Crocker, however, said he believed Allawi was being overly optimistic when he said he could form a government in two months. "I think a more realistic deadline is the beginning of Ramadan at the start of August," http://stcnews.com/2010/allawi-aims-to-quickly-form-iraqi-government/ http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/04/07/iraq.elections.allawi/

ronscarpa, thanks for posting this! My thanks button is gone again!! lol

Tue Apr 6, 2010 10:20pm EDT (Reuters) - China will ultimately decide more yuan flexibility would benefit it, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Tuesday as Beijing defended its currency policy and said any changes would be on its own terms. China Geithner, who told Indian television the global economic recovery "looks quite strong now," also said it was "China's choice" whether or not it revalues the yuan. The White House said President Barack Obama will raise the currency issue with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Washington next week on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit. "The administration will continue to press the Chinese to ... value their currency in a way that is much more market based," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told a news briefing. "That is the way we think is best at this point, and I think you've seen reports of the past week or so about the Chinese beginning to take some steps and realize on their own that this is the best path for them," he said. With U.S. unemployment stuck near 10 percent, Obama faces pressure to persuade Beijing to allow the yuan to appreciate so as to help U.S. firms compete with Chinese goods. "I am confident that China will decide it's in their interest to resume the move to a more flexible exchange rate that they began some years ago and suspended in the midst of the crisis," Geithner told India's NDTV. continued.............. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63524M20100407

April 6th, 2010 08:33 PM ET Hours after insurgents killed dozens of people Tuesday in a new wave of bomb attacks in Baghdad, former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said he hopes to form a new government in two months after claiming victory in the country's March 7 elections. "We need the (election) results to be officially announced by the Supreme Court, and then I guess it will take us in the range of two months to form ... I hope to form ... a government," Allawi told CNN's Christiane Amanpour. Allawi said he believes his Iraqiya bloc, which has a narrow two-seat lead in parliament over his main rival, has the right to form Iraq's next government under the country's constitution. Iraqiya won 91 seats and current Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's State of the Law coalition won 89 seats, according to the provisional election results. "We can't just have a national unity government, a government which has been stagnant as the current government has been," he said. "We need to have a government that can function and can provide, especially for the security of this country." His comments came amid new concerns that security in Iraq is beginning to unravel in what many say is a political vacuum following the elections. Insurgents Tuesday exploded at least seven bombs in Baghdad, killing more than 30 people and wounding 140 others. It was the latest in a series of attacks that have killed more than 100 people in five days. "I expected this violence, especially after the elections, because there is a vacuum, and there is indeed a constitutional vacuum at this time," Allawi said. "And indeed the terrorists and groups who are linked to terrorism would find the political environment useful for them to start damaging and inflicting more damage on the Iraqi people." But in a note of optimism, former U.S. National Security Council official Brett McGurk said that despite the upsurge in violence, Iraq has not seen any signposts of real deterioration. "We haven't seen militias take to the streets to protect neighborhoods," he said. "We've not seen the ministries stand down, things we started to see in 2006." Allawi said the success of his bloc in the elections showed that the Iraqi people are completely fed up with sectarianism. "They want to see a secular country with a professional, functional government, and they want to get out of the bottleneck that we are in now," he said. He rejected the arguments of critics who say Allawi's bloc is simply a front organization for former Baathists who served in the Saddam Hussein regime. "The Baath .. are finished. It's ended. We are in a new era," he said. In a sign perhaps of that new era, Allawi said he is talking to other political parties about the formation of a new government coalition - including supporters of the influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose followers won some 40 seats in the new Iraqi parliament. "The Sadrists are welcome to join it," he said. "We are talking to them already. And the discussions are progressing well." Allawi emphasized there is a big difference between political supporters of al-Sadr and its once powerful Jaish al-Mahdi militia. The former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, said he is not at all concerned about the potential role of al-Sadr's supporters in a new coalition government. Crocker told Amanpour that "the Sadrists have always had an appeal to the dispossessed urban Shia populations, and they finally found a way to get their act together sufficiently to garner a respectable number of seats." "But clearly they are not going to form a government," he said. "They may be instrumental in the government's formation, but they're going to have to be part of the give-and-take of Iraqi politics as well." Crocker, however, said he believed Allawi was being overly optimistic when he said he could form a new government in two months. "I think a more realistic deadline is the beginning of Ramadan at the start of August," Crocker said. "So I worry about a decision to have us down to 50,000 (American) troops perhaps in the same month that a new government is formed." Crocker was referring to the planned withdrawal of all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by the end of August, leaving a residual force of 50,000 troops until a final U.S. withdrawal scheduled for the end of 2011. http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/06/allawi-aiming-to-form-new-iraqi-government-in-two-months/

Monday, April 5th 2010 6:25 PM Sulaimaniyah, April 5 (AKnews)

Darnit I wish we could get the thanks button fixed!! Thanks Woody!!

Your welcome!! Glad I was able to catch it for everyone!! Go RV !!!!!