Lawmakers, activists seek answers over fate of fishermen forced back to N.Korea

By Josh Smith and Soo-hyang Choi - 

SEOUL, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Activists and South Korean lawmakers are pressing North Korea to confirm the fate of two fishermen who were forcibly sent back from the South in 2019 after being accused of murder.

The administration of former President Moon Jae-in deported the two men back to North Korea after it concluded that they were "dangerous criminals" who had killed 16 other colleagues, and subsequent unconfirmed reports have suggested they were executed shortly after being deported.

A United Nations investigator has said that the forcible repatriation violated human rights principles. Neither Moon, who has kept out of the public eye since leaving office, or North Korea has commented on the case.

New President Yoon Suk-yeol pushed to reinvestigate the case, accusing the previous government of trying to curry favour with Pyongyang amid denuclearisation negotiations and efforts at rapprochement. Senior former officials are under investigation, while Moon's party says the inquiries are politically motivated.

Some rights activists, South Korean lawmakers and defectors say it is still unclear what happened to the men, and are pushing to discover if they are still alive.

In a social media post on Wednesday, Ha Tae-keung, a member of Yoon's conservative party who formerly sat on the parliamentary intelligence committee, identified the two men as Woo Beom Sun and Kim Hyun Wook.

Both were shown in photos released by the Yoon administration earlier this year being dragged across the border by South Korean security officials, with Woo in particular resisting.

Ha's office said he was releasing their identities for the first time in an attempt to get more information from the defector community, and to pressure North Korea to break its silence about their fate.

"Whether they are alive is still not confirmed three years after their forced repatriation to the North," Ha and three other lawmakers wrote in a joint statement. "Only the international community's open and united voice can bring about change in the North Korean authorities' attitude."

An official with the Unification Ministry, which handles relations with the North, said they had no information to share regarding the fate of the repatriated fishermen.

In July, Yonhap news agency cited an unnamed South Korean government official who said that the two men had been executed just days after they were sent back.

Others have cast doubts on those reports.

One South Korean pastor, who has worked for decades helping North Koreans defect, told Reuters that based on his sources, he believes that the fishermen may still be alive in a political prison camp.

The pastor and a defector told Reuters that there are also questions over the crime the two men were accused of committing. Citing contacts in the North, they say there seems to be little public talk of 16 missing fishermen, who would have left behind families and friends.

Referring to the two fishermen, Lina Yoon, senior Korea researcher at the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, said: "Knowing their name and birthdate makes it much easier for other governments and international mechanisms to make official requests about their whereabouts and hold accountable the North Korean government for their fate."

She added: "The North Korean government should immediately disclose their whereabouts.” (Reporting by Josh Smith and Soo-hyang Choi, editing by Mark Heinrich)

Argentina’s pensioners suffer under weight of soaring inflation

Teresa Bo - Yesterday 11:21 AM

Buenos Aires, Argentina – Villa Lugano, a collection of large social housing complexes in Argentina’s capital, was founded in the 1900s by a Swiss man who dreamt of building a neighbourhood that would compare with his home in Lugano, Switzerland.


Pedestrians walk past people sleeping outside a bank, in Buenos Aires’ financial

 district, Argentina, July 2022 [File: Agustin Marcarian/Reuters]© Provided by Al Jazeera

Today, it has become a symbol of the country’s working class – and it’s where I recently met Stella Maris Acosta and Walmiran Aramburu, two pensioners living off the minimum monthly instalment of about $170 each.

In a country where the monthly inflation rate has hit approximately 7 percent, their income is not enough to survive on. Stella Maris and Walmiran live in a modest apartment and they are struggling to pay the bills.

“The only dream I had was owning a home and now look at us,” Stella Maris told me. “I am still paying for the mortgage, utility services, plus all the medicines we need – we cannot buy enough food.”

She then stood up and went to the refrigerator, proudly displaying some of the vegetables that she said she picks out of the rubbish, drops into vinegar and cleans up before eating. “People throw away food but it can be preserved and used,” said Stella Maris. “I can turn this tomato into sauce, bake it and other things.”

Argentina is an agricultural powerhouse that produces food for 400 million people – yet amid soaring inflation and the daily struggles of people like Stella Maris and Walmiran, many here say the country’s ruling class has failed them over and over again.

People are used to living with high inflation; it’s been a problem for decades. But with the rate expected to hit 100 percent by the end of 2022, Argentines are hoping for miracles.

Unions are strong and they are pushing for wages to keep up with inflation. This year, deals have been reached for 65-percent salary increases and that’s one of the reasons why the government is still in control. There is anger, yes, and the government has lost support. But they are still in power.


The problem is that pensioners – who number about 7 million, of which 86 percent are getting the minimum amount every month – can rarely take to the streets and demand a better income.

“Inflation, what it does is that you pay the new prices with an old salary. It happens to all workers,” Eugenio Semino, a public defender for the elderly in Buenos Aires, told Al Jazeera.

He explained that even though labour unions have agreed to salary increases, that jump is already outpaced by the projected inflation, which “will be close to 100 [percent]”.

Argentina’s government knows there is a big battle ahead over inflation. The problem is that until recently, President Alberto Fernandez and Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner could not agree on the antidote to fight it.

Alberto Fernandez had been trying to reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund to cut down on subsidies and government spending, while Fernandez de Kirchner opposed many of his policies and insisted that inflation needed to be fought differently. But when she was president of Argentina until 2014, she, too, was unable to find a solution.

Now, Sergio Massa is the new minister of the economy – the third to take up the post in August alone after a string of government shakeups.

A seasoned politician with presidential ambitions, he has promised to jumpstart the troubled economy. Massa just came back from Washington, DC, where he made a desperate attempt to find investors and support for many of his policies. But whether his plan succeeds remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, Argentina’s pensioners continue to struggle under the weight of the crisis.

Stella Maris has been working since she was 15. She has worked as a maid and a nurse, but now suffers from diabetes. Walmiran, who came to Argentina from Uruguay in the 1970s, worked as a doorman all his life. He, too, has health problems now, including epilepsy.

Despite these challenges, Stella Maris and Walmiran still go out every day to try to make an extra living. They search rubbish bins for bronze, copper, aluminium, and food. If they are lucky, they can make an extra $80 every month by selling the recyclable materials.

They say Argentina’s political class has failed them. They are forced to take to the streets to survive as inflation continues to soar. But they are not humiliated by it. They say it’s a job and for now, it’s the only thing they can do to help them make it until the end of the month.

Argentina’s Kirchner Says Murder Attempt Broke Pact of Democracy

Silvia Martinez and Patrick Gillespie - Yesterday 

(Bloomberg) -- Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, making her first public appearance since suffering a failed assassination attempt two weeks ago, said the incident broke a social agreement reached when the country returned to democracy in 1983.


Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner waves to supporters as she leaves her residence in Buenos Aires following the failed attack.© Getty Images

“Recovering democracy wasn’t just being able to vote, it was also a return to life and rationality, to be able to discuss politics without violence,” she said at a small event with social religious organizations at the senate. “What happened the other day ruptured that, and we have to rebuild it urgently.”

The failed Sept. 1 attack outside Kirchner’s apartment building in Buenos Aires stunned the nation. While politicians across the spectrum condemned the violence and wished Kirchner well, that night President Alberto Fernandez declared a national holiday, and lashed out at opposition leaders and the media in a televised address. Violence against political figures has been rare in Argentina since the return to a democratic system.

Read More: Argentina Vice President Survives Gunman’s Assassination Attempt

The attacker, a 35-year-old identified as Fernando Andres Sabag Montiel, pointed a gun at point blank range toward Kirchner’s face but it failed to fire and fell out of his hand. After the attack, her political rival, former President Mauricio Macri, also suffered threats. Fernandez condemned the threats against Macri, who left office in 2019.

In her address, Kirchner cited a conversation held with Pope Francis following the attack, in which he had told her that “acts of violence and hate are preceded by words and verbs of hate.” She stopped short of directly blaming any opposition groups or the media for the tensions.

“We need to deal with this through the institutions and with civic respect,” she said, praising her supporters for turning in the gunman to the police rather than attempting to take matters into their own hands.

The attack has added tension to a country already suffering through inflation expected to reach 100% by the end of this year. In her address, Kirchner said that the country’s inflation problem has to do with the lack of a reliable currency.

“That’s what I believe and what I’ve been saying, and that’s what we at a minimum need to agree on,” she said.

Read More: Why 70% Inflation Is Just One of Argentina’s Problems: QuickTake

Kirchner is in the middle of a corruption trial in which a federal prosecutor has called on a court to sentence her to 12 years in prison and a lifetime ban on public service. Kirchner denies any wrongdoing. As sitting vice president, Kirchner holds a high level of immunity and is unlikely to go to jail soon if the court agrees with the prosecutor.

No longer at ease: Pastoralist attack survivors unsettled in Nigeria

Yesterday 


Igangan, Nigeria – One sunny afternoon in April, Rahmata Adeagbo, was seated on a bed in her brother’s house where she now lives, staring blankly at the visitors.

Makeshift tents for housing are lined up at the camp for internally displaced people affected by the prolonged conflict between farmers and nomadic herders in Guma, Benue State in central Nigeria, January 6, 2022 [File: Chinedu Asadu/AP Photo]© Provided by Al Jazeera

“Ade-lo-wo … Ade-a-gbo,” the 50-year-old muttered after a long silence, painfully stringing the syllables of her late husband’s name.

On June 5, 2021, he had stepped out after receiving calls that nomadic herdsmen had laid siege to their town, Igangan, a town 176km [109 miles] away from Lagos. The next time she saw him, his body was ridden with bullets, one of 11 deaths during the attack.

Before that episode, Igangan and six neighbouring towns – all in Oyo state – had experienced a number of clashes stemming from disagreements between Indigenous Yoruba farmers and nomadic Fulani herdsmen.

At the root of the crisis is cattle grazing on farmlands across Nigeria but the battle for resources has been exacerbated by climate change across the Sahel, worsening economic conditions and in some cases, ethnicity and religion; the nomads are mostly Muslim and the farmers are predominantly Christians.

Entire villages have been displaced and schools closed for successive sessions. Interstate food supply chains are disrupted as cattle markets have been razed and farmers have been unable to tend to their crops or have seen them destroyed.

In central Nigeria, the hotspot, as many as 13 million people are at risk of hunger, the World Food Programme said earlier this year.

Between 2016 and 2018, there were 3,641 deaths nationwide due to the conflict, according to Amnesty International. The majority of the reported victims were Indigenes and herdsmen were reported as the aggressors, launching deadly raids frequently.

But even in the southwest, where interfaith households are common and religious tolerance is deemed the highest nationwide, these clashes have become rife. In recent years, it has morphed into more dangerous dimensions involving kidnappings, rape, highway robberies, and coordinated destruction of farmlands.

In 2019, an anti-open grazing law addressing what many experts have identified as the root cause of the disagreements – resource sharing – was passed into law in Oyo. But it has not yet been implemented.

Two years later, as attacks in Igangan continued without perpetrators being apprehended, non-state actors led by a Yoruba ethnic rights activist, Sunday Adeyemo Igboho, demolished property belonging to Fulani residents.

Residents told Al Jazeera that this eviction and the controversies that followed likely spurred the June 5 attack.

Growing distrust

According to a report [PDF] by the International Crisis Group, factors that have allowed Nigeria’s pastoralist crisis to fester range from impunity and eroding confidence in the country’s security forces to the government’s poor response to early warnings.

For years, the national security architecture has been overstretched by armed groups running riot in northeast, northwest and central Nigeria.

In January 2020, as cases of insecurity spiked in southwest Nigeria, the six state governors in the region agreed to create a regional security network. It was codenamed Amotekun (Yoruba for leopard). The federal government kicked against the move citing constitutional concerns so the governors redesigned it into a state-based security vigilante to support the police, which is controlled by Abuja.

In Oyo State, the outfit launched in November 2020.

Even though the June 2021 attack remains the last full-scale one coordinated by herdsmen on residents of any of the seven neighbouring towns, residents told Al Jazeera that neither the recent reduction in attacks nor the government’s efforts had eased their fears.

Matthew Page, an associate fellow at the UK-based think-tank Chatham House, says their decision not to trust the authorities’ promise of safety is justified, explaining that “security agencies are ineffective because authorities have tolerated endemic corruption and turned a blind eye to their operational failures”.

Idayat Hassan, director of Abuja-based CDD, agreed, saying it is difficult for residents to trust the state because it has lost the monopoly of violence.

“The inability of the state to respond even when furnished with information ahead of attacks also makes citizens believe they are either complicit or abetting,” she said. “This further eroded the thin trust existing between citizens and governments.”

Peace and unease

Before her husband’s death, Adeagbo was a housewife who occasionally engaged in farmwork but her mental health has begun to suffer since and she can no longer work.

“When her husband died, she suffered a serious emotional issue,” her brother, Akeem Rasheed, told Al Jazeera. “Her husband’s death and the unavailability of resources to cater for her kids pushed her to the brink.”

Initially, he took her to the closest neuropsychiatric hospital, 77km [48 miles] from the town, for treatment. After two months, he had to take her back home because he could no longer afford her hospital bills.

“They allowed me to take her away only because I promised to keep bringing her for regular check-ups, something I have not done because I don’t have money again,” Rasheed said.

As her mental state declines, her family is clinging to the hope that she will get better and that the town will not be attacked again.

But despite no attacks in recent months, residents of other communities in the region are choosing pragmatism over hope.

Across villages in Ogun state, next door to Lagos, residents are relocating to the neighbouring Benin Republic. One of them is Clement Oyebanjo, a teacher in Agbon village who moved there briefly last February after an attack in his village killed four people.

“We are not at ease and sleep with our eyes half open because we know as long as open-grazing is not banned, these Fulani herders will come back,” says Oyebanjo who is prepared to return to Benin if another attack happens.

‘Violence entrepreneurs’

After Igangan was attacked in June, its residents created a new vigilante group. One of its members was Emmanuel Oguntoyinbo whose younger brother was shot dead on his motorcycle by the attackers while returning from a party.

“We, the youths of the town, that decided that we needed to do that because initially, the community employed some vigilantes from outside, but when the government refused to pay, they left,” the 35-year-old told Al Jazeera.

Every night, armed with Dane guns and charms, they take positions across the town while others patrol strategic places in groups. The community’s youth leader, Olayiwola Olusegun, told Al Jazeera that every household contributes money every month to provide ammunition.

In Agbon, the local vigilante group continues to recruit new members. In neighbouring Ibeku, residents are now wary of visitors and report unknown faces immediately to the town’s traditional ruler.

In Ondo State, dozens of elder residents of communities like Okeluse and Molege, have fled too, while youths who stayed behind have picked up arms to protect themselves.

Meanwhile, Wasiu Olatunbosun, Oyo State commissioner for information, told Al Jazeera the government had put in place the machinery to secure towns like Igangan. He insisted that residents who claim to stay up at night because of their fear of another attack must be opposition members.

For experts like Page, the outcome of these dynamics could be an “expansion of violence entrepreneurs” and more instability even if residents embracing self-defence is justified.

The only difference, he said, between “a vigilante, political thug, insurgent, or bandit is for whom or what cause he fights”.

World Bank earmarks $30 billion to help offset food shortages worsened by war in Ukraine

By Daria Sito-Sucic - Yesterday

World Bank Managing Director of Operations Axel van Trotsenburg speaks during interview with Reuters© Reuters/DADO RUVIC

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - The World Bank is willing to provide up to $30 billion to combat global food shortages aggravated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and has so far disbursed almost $10 billion in financial aid pledged to Kyiv, a senior bank official said on Thursday.

Axel van Trotsenburg, the bank's managing director of operations, cited "an absolute need for international solidarity with Ukraine" during an interview with Reuters while on a visit to the Bosnian capital Sarajevo.

"And that solidarity has to be sustained not only in the short term but in the long term," he said.

Van Trotsenburg said the World Bank began providing support to Ukraine soon after the Feb. 24 Russian invasion and had so far disbursed close to $10 billion of $13 billion in aid it had committed to Kyiv.

He said the bank had created a platform to combine its direct support and additional support from countries such as the United States, Britain and Japan, along with separate guarantees from European states, and also facilitate co-financing and parallel financing. It had also created a trust fund for donors.



World Bank Managing Director of Operations Axel van Trotsenburg speaks during an interview with Reuters© Reuters/DADO RUVIC

While various countries have channelled support through the trust fund, he said, the largest sums had come from the United States with an average of at least $1.5 billion out of nearly $5 billion in external financing needed by Kyiv each month.

"We set up (a) system through which we could help the continuation of the state functions of Ukraine - paying teacher salaries, pensions, helping the health system. That has worked very well and some of our partner countries wanted to use that mechanism because we can then also trace money," van Trotsenburg said.

He said the bank was also supporting Ukrainians hit by the war both at home and abroad, as well as neighbouring countries and developing nations outside Europe suffering from disruptions of Ukrainian grain exports due to the war.

"This is one of the reasons that the World Bank announced we are willing to provide financing of up to $30 billion to deal with food insecurity over the next 12 months."

A report released by the World Bank, European Commission and Ukrainian government on Friday said Russia's invasion had caused over $97 billion in direct damages through June 1, but it could cost nearly $350 billion to rebuild the country.

(Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

'No more food in my village': Aid needed to avert a famine in Somalia

The World - Yesterday 

At the Banadir Hospital in Mogadishu, a couple sat on a cot in the crowded malnutrition ward. Between them, their severely malnourished baby girl lied quietly, her ribs jutting out.

"The lack of food is why she became like this," said Abdel Khadar Ali, the girl's father.


Parents with their child who is malnourished, at Banadir Hospital, Mogadishu. The displaced family lost all their cattle due to drought and have struggled to find food and water. Halima Gikandi/The World© Halima Gikandi/The World

The family came to Mogadishu after the drought killed off their livestock, joining a million others who have been displaced by this crisis.

When they arrived at a camp for internally displaced people on the outskirts of the city, however, they were still unable to find food, water or medicine to help their daughter.

"Malnutrition is increasing since this year, almost doubling," said Dr. Awas Ollo, who runs the pediatric department.

"Drought and disease impact combined together increases the caseload of malnutrition," he said.

The United Nations has said more than 700 children have died of malnourishment centers in Somalia this year. But the number could be higher, especially in hard-to-reach areas.

A new UN report has said parts of the country could experience famine from October to December. This includes Baidoa, where 42-year-old Hawa Ibrahim Bare has come searching for assistance.

"I've been here for three months," said Bare from her makeshift shelter made of plastic, fabric, and sticks.

"There was no more food in my village."


Woman stands in a camp for internally displaced people in Baidoa, Somalia. 

Halima Gikandi/The World© Halima Gikandi/The World

Normally, Bare and her family survive as farmers, harvesting maize, sorghum, and beans. But the past four consecutive rainy seasons have failed, meaning they haven't been able to plant anything at all.

"We haven't received any help here, " Bare added.

Without humanitarian support, she's had to rely on the good will of others.

In a recent visit to Somalia, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General Martin Griffiths called for a dramatic increase in humanitarian aid and warned that famine was at Somalia's door.

"We will see mass deaths. We'll see it happening to people who haven't been reached if we're not effective and we will see a way of life vanishing before the eyes of the world," he said.

He noted how in recent years, the international community has successfully prevented a repeat of the 2011 famine, which led to the death of an estimated 250,000 people.

But he added that in the long run, Somalia needs solutions to break out of this cycle of drought and humanitarian emergency.

Back at the camp, Bare lamented the series of environmental crises she has experienced over her lifetime.

"This is my fourth drought," said Bare. "I'm tired."

She said if she gets help from the government or an nongovernmental organization, she will send her kids to school, so they don't have to live as farmers, subject to the whims of an unpredictable environment.

Related: Somalia’s first environment minister aims to alleviate suffering from climate disasters

Opponents take to the streets of El Salvador to protest against Bukele on Independence Day

Daniel Stewart - Yesterday 

Several NGOs, unions and opposition groups have marched this Thursday through the streets of the capital of El Salvador, San Salvador, to protest against the president, Nayib Bukele, on the day in which the Central American nation celebrates Independence Day.


Opponents take to the streets of El Salvador to protest against Bukele on Independence Day© Provided by News 360

The demonstration, called 'The great march for freedom', has gathered civil society agents, students, young people and relatives of people detained under the emergency regime.

In fact, the exception regime has been one of the central pillars of the mobilization. The Bukele government approved at the end of March a measure under which authorities have already confirmed the detention of more than 50,000 alleged criminals.

However, Bukele's decision has been criticized both by international human rights organizations and by the Salvadoran population itself, as they consider that arbitrary detentions have been committed under the emergency regime.

Likewise, the mobilization has also served as a protest against the high cost of living, massive layoffs in certain government offices or public indebtedness, according to the local newspaper 'La Prensa Gráfica'.

UK
Reports Kwarteng will lift cap on banker’s bonuses infuriate unions

Peter Walker, Matthew Weaver and Aubrey Allegretti 

The Guardian - Yesterday 

Unions have reacted with fury to the prospect of the government scrapping a cap on bankers’ bonuses, as ministers geared up for a return to near-normal politics next week, topped by an emergency mini-budget on Friday.


Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA© Provided by The Guardian

Kwasi Kwarteng, the chancellor, who will set out plans for tax cuts and give more details about the government’s plans to limit rising energy bills, is also considering whether to shed the legacy of an EU-wide cap on bonuses of twice an employee’s salary, imposed after the 2008 financial crash.

While the cap was intended to curb over-risky practices that helped create the crash, ministers are known to be concerned that the City it at risk of losing out to other financial centres.

According to the Financial Times, Kwarteng wants to abolish the rules as part of what he calls “big bang 2.0”, a post-Brexit deregulation drive to make the City more competitive.

Sources told the paper that Kwarteng wants to boost the City’s competitiveness against New York, Frankfurt, Hong Kong and Paris, with one financier saying an end to the cap was a “clear Brexit dividend. Something you can present as a win.”

It would, however, be a politically perilous move at a time when the bulk of UK households are facing real-terms pay decreases amid 9.9% inflation, as well as notably higher energy bills this winter, despite the government plan to cap increases.

Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the TUC, said people “are being walloped by soaring prices after the longest and harshest wage squeeze in modern history”. She added: “The chancellor’s No 1 priority should be getting wages rising for everyone – not boosting bumper bonuses for those at the top.”

Sharon Graham, general secretary of the Unite union, said workers would be “appalled and angry”. She said: “When millions are struggling to feed their families and keep the lights on, the government’s priority appears to be boosting the telephone number salaries of their friends in the City.”

Andrew Sentance, a member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee during and after the financial crisis, said it was a “very bad” time to consider increasing banker’s bonuses.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday, Sentance said it risked sending “a rather confused signal” amid inflation squeeze: “To appear to allow bankers to have bigger bonuses at the same time, doesn’t look very well timed. There may be some longer-term arguments for pursuing this policy, but I think the timing would be very bad if they did it now.”

The mooted plans come as Kwarteng and Liz Truss prepare to fully set out their economic plan based around lower taxes, reduced regulation and a focus on higher overall economic growth trickling down to all income brackets, as opposed to redistributive policies.

This has been delayed by the mourning period for the Queen, culminating in Monday’s state funeral.

The Commons, which has not sat this week, is scheduled to resume on Wednesday with more MPs swearing allegiance to King Charles, something that is not required but which many wish to do.

Thursday could see details of Truss’s energy price freeze, estimated to cost about £150bn, particularly the still only sketched-out plan to help businesses, as well as news on health. While a draft parliamentary timetable says only that the Commons might sit on Friday, this is expected to be the day for Kwarteng’s “fiscal event”, setting out an initial package of economic policies.

The Commons then goes into recess for the traditional party conference break, and had been due to resume on 17 October. However, MPs will be asked next week to approve an earlier return, on 11 October.

Truss is due to be in New York after the Queen’s funeral for the UN general assembly, returning in time for the mini-budget.

While the new prime minister has seen her political programme sidelined by the death of the Queen, the influx of world leaders before Monday’s funeral will give her the chance to hold talks with some she might not get a chance to see in New York.

Joe Biden, the US president, is among a series of leaders Truss is expected to meet over the weekend in Downing Street and at Chevening, an official country retreat being used while Chequers undergoes maintenance work.

While No 10 insisted such meetings would include talk about the Queen, Truss will also discuss wider issues. A full list of the pre-funeral bilateral chats was due to be released on Friday.

Pressure builds to scrap bankers’ bonus cap as BoE says it never backed policy

Jack Barnett - Yesterday 

Pressure is building on Kwasi Kwarteng tonight to scrap the cap on bankers’ bonuses, as the Bank of England said it never wanted the EU pay restriction.


Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng is drawing up plans to scrap the bankers' bonus cap to try and bank a post-Brexit win for the City.© Provided by City AM

One minister also told City A.M. that scrapping the cap “makes it more attractive to be in London”, with the measure likely to get support among large sections of the Tory party.

Read more
Bankers’ bonus cap could be scrapped by Kwasi Kwarteng

Bank of England says it never wanted bankers’ bonus cap as Kwarteng looks to scrap it© Provided by City AM

The Financial Times reported on Wednesday night that the chancellor was drawing up plans to scrap the measure to try and bank a post-Brexit win for the City.

The cap, which was introduced by Brussels after the 2008 financial crash, sees bankers’ bonuses limited to no more than 100 per cent of their fixed pay or double that with explicit shareholder approval.

Removing the cap, it is argued, could strengthen London’s competitiveness in the global finance industry by allowing City banks to lure the sector’s best talent by offering better remuneration.

It would also cut banks’ fixed costs as they could dish out bonuses instead of increased wages.

A Bank of England spokesperson yesterday said they “did not support the bonus cap when it was introduced”.

“The Senior Managers Regime and remuneration rules requiring deferral of bonus payments are more effective tools for ensuring bankers take proper account of risks,” they said.

Read more
‘Blunt, unsociable and very smart’: Meet new City minister Andrew Griffith


Veteran City commentator David Buik said that removing, or easing, the cap was “logical”.

“This move will stimulate activity in trading markets and in IPO and M&A activity, thus encouraging more banks to focus business on London, thus delivering more taxation to the revenue,” he said.

Pundits have already said that following through with the change would be difficult politically for the government, particularly as the country faces stagflation.

Critics also say it may trigger a return of the high risk behaviour that sparked the global financial crisis.

One Tory MP said it “shouldn’t be a priority”.

“It’s politically odd at this time – it’s only meaningful to a few thousand bankers and risks pissing off the EU when there’s no need to,” they said.

A minister said: “There’s never going to be a good time to do it, but if you can justify it by saying ‘it will increase overall economic growth’ then we should look at it.”

Prime Minister Liz Truss has promised to guide economic policy in a much more free market direction, while also vowing to immediately ditch EU regulation for the City.

She is set to implement radical supply side reforms and embrace a less interventionist style of governing, after Boris Johnson’s big state approach.

A senior London Conservative MP said “it fits entirely with what we expect people to see a lot more of under Liz [Truss] – that we are not here to intervene in the private sector that way”.



Ex-minister says Kwarteng was right to sack Treasury’s top civil servant

© Provided by City AM

“You might say the optics are bad, but if the philosophy is that ‘it’s not up to us to tell banks how to pay their people’, then it makes complete sense,” they said.

The post Pressure builds to scrap bankers’ bonus cap as BoE says it never backed policy appeared first on CityAM.

Russian Supreme Court orders closure of ‘Novaya Gazeta’ newspaper’s website
Daniel Stewart - Yesterday


The Russian Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the closure of the website of the 'Novaya Gazeta' portal, a symbol of critical voices in Russia and whose director, Dimitri Muratov, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021.


Russian Supreme Court orders closure of ‘Novaya Gazeta’ newspaper’s website© Provided by News 360

The sentence comes to endorse the complaints of the body that controls the media, for not labeling two organizations that operate, in Moscow's eyes, as "foreign agents", according to the newspaper itself, which has already announced that it will file an appeal.

Thursday's hearing was attended by Muratov, who in recent months has already seen the pressure increase on 'Novaya Gazeta' on several fronts. The courts had already ordered the suspension of the newspaper's print edition in a previous ruling.

The Russian edition of 'Novaya Gazeta' had already suspended publication in March following two warnings from media regulator Roskomnadzor, while the European edition, created after the shutdown in Russia, has its access blocked following a request from the Prosecutor's Office.

The newspaper already maintained a limited coverage of the war in Ukraine, after publicly recognizing that it had to avoid certain contents in order not to risk closure following the tightening of censorship promoted by the Kremlin.

U$A

Nearly 90 Percent of the World Isn't Following Us on Ukraine | Opinion

Opinion by Michael Gfoeller and David H. Rundell -

Our familiar system of global political and economic alliances is shifting, and nothing has made this change clearer than the varied reactions to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. While the United States and its closest allies in Europe and Asia have imposed tough economic sanctions on Moscow, 87 percent of the world's population has declined to follow us. Economic sanctions have united our adversaries in shared resistance. Less predictably, the outbreak of Cold War II, has also led countries that were once partners or non-aligned to become increasingly multi-aligned.


An immigration inspection officer checks an oil tanker carrying 

imported crude oil at Qingdao port in China's eastern Shandong province 

on May 9, 2022.

© STR/AFP via Getty Images

Nowhere is the shift more apparent than in energy markets where, unlike with currencies, governments cannot simply print what they need. Here the web of sanctions becomes a sieve.

Saudi Arabia, long a committed American partner, has established a close alliance with Russia in the OPEC Plus cartel. The Saudis have very publicly declined the request of an American president to increase oil production. Instead, they imported Russian oil for domestic use to export more of their own production. Last week they even reduced production and made clear they may do so again.

China is selling Europe liquid natural gas (LNG) that originated in Siberia while importing Russian oil at the same time. It then refines and exports the oil.

Meanwhile, kept solvent by Chinese oil purchases, Iran has become the largest customer for Russian wheat.

India's petroleum minister has stated publicly that his government has no conflict with Moscow and a "moral duty" to keep down energy prices at home by buying Russian oil.

Alliances that were created in part to counter Western economic and political influence are expanding. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey have announced their interest in joining the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa). The Shanghai Cooperative Organization currently links China, Russia, India, and Pakistan, among others. Iran plans to join this month while Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar are likely to become "dialogue partners," or candidate members.

Additionally, China's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative is tying many African nations to Beijing with cords of trade and debt. Russia is also reaching out in the form of Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who recently addressed his 22 Arab League counterparts in Cairo before touring a number of African countries.

If that's not enough to give the West pause, Moscow is again on the offensive in Latin America, strengthening its military relationships with Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Cuba. The two powerhouses of that region, Brazil and Mexico, have pointedly refused to back Western sanctions against Russia.

The dollar's reserve currency status remains a pillar of the global economic order, but trust in that order has been damaged. Economic sanctions have weaponized parts of the international banking and insurance sectors including the SWIFT fund transfer system. Assets have been seized and commodity contracts canceled. Calls for de-dollarization have become louder. When Russia demanded energy payments in rubles, yuan or UAE Dirhams, China and India complied.

Many Asian economies are now being hit by both rising oil prices and the depreciation of their own currency against the dollar. As a result, they are expanding their use of bilateral currency swaps which allow them to trade among themselves in their own currencies. Eighty years ago the British pound lost its preeminent position among the world's currencies. This is precisely what America's adversaries are trying to do to the dollar and if the Saudis ever stop pricing oil in dollars, they may very well succeed.

Globalization can function only if most participants believe it advances their interests. If the rest believe the West is unfairly using the system for its own benefit, the rules- based international order falls apart and alternatives will emerge.

Today, inflationary pressures and recession fears stalk much of the world. While the wealthy West can afford the cost of sanctions, much of the rest cannot. Europe now competes with the likes of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Thailand for energy shipments. In North Africa and the Middle East, energy and food shortages have raised the prospect of political unrest similar to the Arab Spring.

These concerns are generating considerable anti-Western sentiment across much of the Global South. While a nuclear-armed Russia shows no willingness to end a war its leaders cannot afford to lose; the West is rapidly losing the rest and thus undermining the very rules-based international order it has sought to create. Our most promising solution to this dilemma is likely to be some sort of diplomatic compromise.

David H. Rundell is the author of Vision or Mirage, Saudi Arabia at the Crossroads and a former Chief of Mission at the American Embassy in Saudi Arabia. Ambassador Michael Gfoeller is a former Political Advisor to the U.S. Central Command.

The views expressed in this article are the writers' own.

Biden Administration, EU Reportedly Pressurize Turkey To Enforce Russia Sanctions
Navdeep Yadav - Yesterday 

The Biden Administration and the European Union are putting pressure on Turkey to enforce Russia sanctions amid concerns that its banking sector is a potential backdoor for illicit finance, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.



What Happened: The U.S. authorities are focusing on Turkish banks that have integrated into Mir, a Russian card payment system for electronic fund transfers, two western officials aware of the discussion told the publication. The EU, too, is preparing a delegation to express its concerns directly to Turkish officials

Why It's Important: The development comes as the Western countries pivot towards tighter implementation of existing sanctions on Russia for its war in Ukraine rather than imposing new measures.

“You’re going to see us kind of focus on financial sector evasion,” the first Western official told the publication. “We’ll send a message very clearly that, for example, third-country financial institutions should not be interconnecting with the Mir payment network because, you know, that carries some sanctions-evasion risks.”

Another source involved in this month’s talks between the E.U. and U.S. on sanctions enforcement said, “We need to close loopholes,” citing Turkey as the major target.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s country, which is also Vladimir Putin’s ally and a NATO member, has pursued what it calls a “balanced” approach toward the Ukraine war. Erdoğan, who is due to meet Putin on Friday, said last month that there is “serious progress” on expanding Mir in Turkey.