World important news by Allen

Wireless initiative stalls new billing rules

Guidelines unveiled on Monday by the wireless trade association, CTIA, will see companies send alerts to customers when they near or reach monthly limits on voice, text and data services, and before they incur international roaming charges.The guidelines are similar to rules the Federal Communications Commission was contemplating, and the regulator is backing off its plan for now.”Consistent with the FCC’s ongoing efforts, these actions harness technology to empower consumers, and ensure consumers get a fair shake, not bill shock,” FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said.The FCC has found that one in six mobile phone users have experienced bill shock, or unexpected fees tacked onto their monthly bills, and 23 percent of those users have faced unexpected charges of $100 or more.The FCC proposed rules last October that would make mobile phone companies send text or voice alerts to customers before charging them for services not covered by their plans.Consumers should begin receiving warnings about their bills faster under the industry initiative than the FCC would have been able to require through the rulemaking process.CTIA, representing companies serving 97 percent of wireless customers, and the FCC announced the voluntary guidelines, including disclosure of tools that make it easier for customers to track and control their service usage.But public interest group Free Press criticized the FCC for failing to establish rules, opting instead for “industry platitudes.”“The FCC is charged by Congress to protect consumers and it should fulfill this mandate to write a rule that puts an end to outrageous monthly cell phone bills that rival the price of a new car,” said Joel Kelsey, the Free Press political adviser.CTIA expressed concern last October that prescriptive and costly rules could threaten practices in the industry that have already led to fewer wireless complaints and lower average monthly bills.The FCC intends to leave its bill-shock proceeding open. If wireless carriers failed to comply with the industry guidelines, the agency could still move ahead with enforceable rules, an FCC official said.”Our phones shouldn’t cost us more than the monthly rent or mortgage,” said President Barack Obama in a statement, applauding the wireless industry’s efforts to work with the administration.CTIA Chief Executive Steve Largent called the initiative an example of how federal agencies and the industries they regulate can work together to avoid burdensome rulemaking, as directed by a recent executive order from Obama.Wireless carriers are to provide at least two of the four alerts — voice, text, data or roaming — within 12 months and the rest within 18 months, under the industry initiative.The FCC said the alerts will require substantial investment from wireless companies as they must make upgrades to their billing systems.The majority of Americans get their wireless service through major providers such as AT&T Inc; Sprint Nextel Corp; Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile; and Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc.”We hope that in the future this industry effort serves as a model for the communications space,” said Kathleen Grillo, Verizon senior vice president for federal regulatory affairs, commending the FCC for allowing a non-regulatory solution to bill shock.

Posted 7 months ago
#Wireless #initiative #stalls #new #billing #rules

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ICE takes no action yet on gasoil position limits

An ICE spokeswoman told Reuters on Tuesday the exchange had been busy launching a new specification gasoil contract.”The position limits policy is under review, it is still in progress,” she said.The gasoil contract is used as a global benchmark for fuel prices such as diesel.ICE already has position limits on its energy contracts with U.S. delivery points, such as West Texas Intermediate crude oil, but has used a system known as position management to regulate energy contracts delivered in Europe.The European Union is due to release draft market reforms on Thursday that are expected to give powers to a new regulatory body to impose position limits on commodities trading.

Posted 7 months ago
#ICE #takes #no #action #yet #on #gasoil #position #limits

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Protesters to rally worldwide against greedy rich

Galvanised by the past month’s Occupy Wall Street movement, they plan to take to the streets from Sydney to Alaska via London, Frankfurt, Washington and New York.Riot police prepared for any trouble — cities such as London and Athens have seen violent confrontations this year — but it was impossible to say how many people would actually turn out despite a rallying call across social media websites.”I’ve been waiting for this protest for a long time, since 2008,” said Daniel Schreiber, 28, an editor in Berlin. “I was always wondering why people aren’t outraged and why nothing has happened and finally, three years later, it’s happening.”The Australian city of Melbourne got the ball rolling on Saturday with about 1,000 gathering peacefully in central City Square, listening to speeches.Nick Carson, a spokesman for OccupyMelbourne.Org, said protests were planned for all of Australia’s major cities.”I think people want real democracy,” he said. “They don’t want corporate influence over their politicians. They want their politicians to be accountable. They want proper representation.”Elsewhere in traditionally reserved Asia, about 50 gathered in New Zealand’s quake-hit city of Christchurch and small demonstrations were expected in the Japanese capital Tokyo.The protests are billed as peaceful. But in a sign of what may happen, a group of students stormed Goldman Sachs’s offices in the Italian city of Milan on Friday.The students managed to break into the hall of the Goldman Sachs building in the heart of Milan’s financial district. The protests were quickly dispersed but red graffiti was daubed on its walls expressing anger at Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and saying “Give us money.”Demonstrators also hurled eggs at the headquarters of UniCredit, Italy’s biggest bank.Italian police were on alert for thousands to march in Rome against austerity measures planned by Berlusconi’s government.SOMETHING HAPPENING HEREIn Britain, demonstrators aim to converge on the City of London — a leading international financial center — under the banner “Occupy the Stock Exchange.”“We have people from all walks of life joining us every day,” said Spyro, one of those behind a Facebook page in London which has grown to some 12,000 followers in a few weeks.Spyro, a 28-year-old who has a well-paid job and did not want to give his full name, summed up the main target of the global protests as “the financial system.”Angry at taxpayer bailouts of banks since 2008 and at big bonuses still paid to some who work in them while unemployment blights the lives of many young Britons, he said: “People all over the world, we are saying, ‘Enough is enough’.”Greek protesters aligned with Spain’s “Indignant” movement called an anti-austerity rally for Saturday in Athens’ Syntagma square, scene of many demonstrations during Greece’s financial meltdown.”What is happening in Greece now is the nightmare waiting other countries in the future. Solidarity is people’s weapon,” the Real Democracy group said in a statement calling on people to join the protest.TIME TO UNITEConcrete demands are few other than a general sense that the “greedy and corrupt” rich, and especially banks, should pay more and that elected governments are not listening.”It’s time for us to unite; it’s time for them to listen; people of the world, rise up!” proclaimed the website United for #GlobalChange. “We are not goods in the hands of politicians and bankers who do not represent us … We will peacefully demonstrate, talk and organize until we make it happen.”In Germany, where sympathy for southern Europe’s debt troubles is patchy, the financial center of Frankfurt and the European Central Bank in particular are expected to be a focus of marches called by the Real Democracy Now movement.In the United States, the hundreds of protesters at Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park called for more people to join them. Their example has also prompted calls for similar occupations in dozens of U.S. cities from Saturday.In Houston, protesters plan to tap into anger at big oil companies.Still, some analysts thought the protest momentum in some countries such as Greece and Spain was wearing out.”More people agree with these protests than actually take part,” said Professor Mary Bossis of the University of Piraeus.Despite despair over austerity measures that have slashed wages and pensions and put hundreds of thousands out of work, the spark for sustained action was lacking, she said.”There is anger, there is rage … but what it takes to overturn the current situation is missing,” she said.The targets of the protesters’ wrath are also unlikely to be around to feel it. The City of London, for example, is deserted at weekends as wealthy city workers head for the golf club, country house or generally enjoy a spot of rest and recreation.

Posted 7 months ago
#Protesters #to #rally #worldwide #against #greedy #rich

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MIDEAST DEBT-Narrowing spreads could spur Gulf high-grade issuance

* Islamic bonds may appeal after outperformanceBy Rachna UppalDUBAI, Oct 13 (Reuters) - After two months of inactivity due to the euro zone debt crisis and turmoil in global financial markets, high-grade borrowers from the Gulf Arab region may be close to resuming issuance.There is a substantial number of bonds in the pipeline, and a partial improvement of sentiment in global markets in the past week — although the euro zone crisis remains fundamentally unresolved — has helped Gulf spreads tighten dramatically.The average yield on the HSBC Nasdaq Dubai GCC conventional dollar bond index fell to 5.039 percent on Wednesday from 5.245 percent at the end of last week. Average spreads, calculated over Libor, narrowed to 305.6 basis points from 345.6 bps. In the week to Oct. 5, net outflows from emerging market bond funds slowed to $1.4 billion from the previous week’s $3.2 billion, according to IFR Markets.Abu Dhabi’s Union National Bank held roadshows for a potential bond in September but has so far refrained from issuing. Dolphin Energy, Dubai-based mall developer Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) Holding, and Tourism Development and Investment Co (TDIC) met investors earlier this year but did not issue, citing “market conditions”.”Clearly it is not the market where low-quality issuers can get anything done,” but the situation is different for some higher-quality issuers, said a London-based Middle East fixed income investor.High-quality names still face higher spreads compared to several months ago but this is partly due to a collapse of U.S. Treasury yields , he noted. “In spread terms, they get frustrated because it is not as tight as it was, but in absolute yield terms people are still looking at levels that are very attractive.”RALLYSeveral Gulf names have rallied to trade at near-par levels during this week.”If Europe remains quiet on the bad news front, we should see this rally continue in the short term,” said a regional fixed income trader.The Dubai government’s 7.75 percent 2020 bond was bid at 99.831 on Thursday morning to yield about 7.776 percent, down from 8.468 percent on Oct. 5.Abu Dhabi investment fund Mubadala Development Co’s 5.75 percent 2014 maturity was bid at around 107.549 on Thursday afternoon to yield about 2.667 percent, from 2.953 percent on Oct. 10.”You can price credit risk but not event risk, and that is the main reason why the volume of new issues is low,” said an Abu Dhabi-based trader.”If the stability that we saw this week continues, then the climate will be better for new issues, and then we can talk of spreads and how much premium issuers need to pay to raise money.”If issuance does resume, however, it is likely to be gradual because high-grade credits do not appear desperate for money, analysts said.”At the end of the day, the most highly rated credits are the ones that tend to have the least need for finance,” said Nicholas Stadtmiller, fixed income analyst at Emirates NBD. “Entities that can raise funds easily either don’t need or don’t want them, and those would like to raise money have a harder time getting it.”SUKUKSome traders speculate that Islamic bonds, or sukuk, could be among the first bonds issued after the drought. Sukuk held up relatively well in the secondary market during the recent volatility, partly because investors tend to buy them to hold for maturity rather than for trading. This could prompt both borrowers and investors to see the sukuk market as a relatively low-risk place for issuance.”The sukuk markets are new and not nearly as liquid as developed debt markets. That creates opportunity,” said Akram Annous, MENA strategist at Al Mal Capital in Dubai.Government-owned Abu Dhabi National Energy Co (TAQA) is seeking regulatory approval for a ringgit-denominated benchmark sukuk, while Kuwait Finance House’s Turkish unit Kuveyt Turk Participation Bank is on the road this week in Asia, the Middle East and Europe for a potential Islamic issue.Average spreads for GCC sukuk on the Nasdaq Dubai dollar sukuk index have narrowed to about 295 bps from over 320 bps at the beginning of this month.

Posted 7 months ago
#MIDEAST #DEBTNarrowing #spreads #could #spur #Gulf #highgrade #issuance

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We’re not in Kansas anymore?

Kansas airport fake bomb suspect ordered held in jail KANSAS CITY, Mo., Sept 16 (Reuters) – A man who tried to board a Southwest Airlines flight with materials that resembled bomb parts was ordered held without bond on Friday by a federal judge, authorities said. Okay, this is U.S. Geography 101. Kansas City International Airport is in Missouri! Drizzle Yes, the story itself was right but the headline should have said either Kansas City airport, or Missouri airport. GBU Editor Kansas City Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles is congratulated by quarterback Matt Cassel after scoring a touchdown against the Buffalo Bills during the first half of their NFL football game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri September 11, 2011. Join the Good, Bad, Ugly Facebook Blog Network

Posted 7 months ago
#We’re #not #in #Kansas #anymore

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