60 Million Dollar Views Space hotel makes E.T. tourism reality

Forget the Maldives, the Seychelles - or anywhere else. If you are looking for a really exclusive holiday, you should be looking beyond our planet. A Russian company is building a new hotel in space which is scheduled to open in five years' time. ­And as RT found out, with an astronomical $60-million price tag, a good view is guaranteed.

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Chee Keng Koon on Singapore insurance QBE Insurance World Finance Videos

Over the next seven years, the health insurance market in Singapore is set to quadruple, due to higher levels of disposable income. One of the key players in the region is QBE Insurance Group, and its Singapore CEO, Chee Keng Koon, talks to us about the recent changes in the Singapore insurance sector, the challenges that insurers are facing, and QBE’s plans for expansion in the rest of Asia.

World Finance: Mr Chee, how has the insurance market developed over the last few years?

Chee Keng Koon: Well, Singapore is actually a very interesting market for insurance. As you know Singapore is a financial hub, and we are also the insurance hub in Asia. And if we look back at the statistics in Singapore in terms of revenues, in 2004 the revenues in Singapore were only about SGD 2.2bn written premium size for general, in terms of onshore and offshore.

In the last year, the figures came out to be about SGD 10.4bn, which SGD 3.4bn is onshore, basic domestic business, and the balance is offshore business. So, actually the growth is fantastic. Over the last eight years the growth is about 15 percent on an annual basis.

So, we have a plan in place to ensure that we will not miss out on these opportunities, in terms of the growth in Singapore.


Chee Keng Koon: Looking at the Singapore market, Singapore is going through what we call this ‘infrastructure renewal process,’ which therefore gives rise to opportunities for us. The Singapore government is looking at health insurance. As you know, Asians are becoming more affluent, and as a result people are more focused on health now. Health is a big market, and people in Asia are actually running to Singapore for treatment, and therefore it gives rise to opportunity in internal health, and in terms of commercial and marine.World Finance: What opportunities are there for QBE in the Singapore insurance market?

As you know, Singapore is one of the marine hubs in Asia, so we are the leading players in marine insurance over the last 12 years, and we have been the leaders in this aspect, not just in Singapore, but also in Asia. And our growth is basically focused on these specialty lines: basically it’s marine in Asia, liabilities and casualties, and particularly on professional indemnity, where we are big players for insuring doctors, lawyers, architects, which has great demand going forward.

World Finance: Are there any specific challenges you face in Singapore?

Chee Keng Koon: The challenges as far as the Singapore context is concerned, is always the resource part. The human capital management. I think the influx of the new entrants into the Singapore market give rise to competitions, not just in terms of people trying to take over your business, but very much on the competitor trying to take over your resource. When you lose a good resource, the key personnel? It’s equal to actually losing business.

So, it’s a real challenge for me to retain talent. It’s these talents, and the key personnel, that are the ones that bring us the profits, and brings us the growth. Skill will give us the cost leaderships, besides being the leader. So, what we look at, in order to overcome the challenges, are cultivating the right attitudes of our people, building good, extremely good relationships, and the Asia business depends not just on pricing itself, but on relationships. Long terms relationships, win-win partnerships, collaborations: that’s the way to grow.


Chee Keng Koon: Asia has been an emerging market, and it was the same as many. So to me there are greenfields in Burma, which is greenfield. But Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia are the markets we’re likely to focus on.World Finance: And what are the challenges and opportunities in the rest of the region?

World Finance: So what are QBE’s plans for the next few years?

Chee Keng Koon: Our vision is to be in the top three insurance companies in Singapore. And also the top insurance company in Asia. Our plans are to focus on organic growth in Asia, looking at these specialty lines, like the marine insurance, the constructions, the bigger regional spaces, but specifically on the casualty and property markets. And I think we have built the team now, we have built the right capabilities. The key is that we want to build long-term, rewarding relationships with our customers, to achieve our target plans. To deliver the results for our people, for our customers, for our shareholders.

World Finance: Chee Keng Koon, thank you.

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Financial World Energy Economy Opec News Opec Oil

Senior policy makers played down the weakness of the ruble on Thursday, arguing that its weakness was natural and the result of external factors rather than the result of any deeper economic malaise.

The currency steadied in morning trade after hitting a four-year low to the dollar a day earlier, underperforming other emerging market currencies that have been hurt by anticipation of a reduction in monetary stimulus by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The agreement by OPEC member Iran with world powers to put its nuclear program on hold has increased downside risks to the price of oil, the country’s main export. Energy taxes account for half of federal budget revenues.


In contrast to previous ruble slides, however, this time the falls may be as much about a broadly darker economic outlook that reflects declining levels of confidence among investors in a country that has failed to push through serious modernization in many areas.

At current prices, oil revenues still keep Russia’s current account in positive territory so it is also difficult to blame oil prices for the drop generally.

“According to the Central Bank’s estimates [the weakening] is the result of external factors,” Ksenia Yudayeva, first deputy governor of the Central Bank, told journalists.

“In the last three days, I have not seen any serious, exotic things happening,” she added.

The Central Bank has set a goal of shifting to an unfettered ruble free float in 2015, but still conducts automatic interventions to curb volatility. It has lowered its 7-ruble target band for the ruble against a basket of dollars and euros in six small steps this month.

During the 2008 financial crisis, the Central Bank spent $200 billion — or a third of its reserves — in an ultimately futile defense of the ruble that averted financial collapse but deepened the ensuing economic slump.

Officials now show little sign of wanting to repeat that mistake. According to their thinking, a weaker ruble would help restore Russia’s export competitiveness and offer some support to a slowing economy.

On Thursday at 7:30 p.m., the ruble was trading at 33.14 to the dollar, 45.08 against the euro and 38.51 against the dollar-euro currency basket.
Seasonal Impact

Analysts have also attributed the ruble’s weakness in recent days to large foreign debt repayments that will fall due in December, as well as seasonally high imports ahead of New Year holidays.

However, some have also speculated that a tightening of banking regulation, signaled last week by the closure of mid-sized Master Bank, has encouraged more capital outflows. Banking circles have been rife with talk of financial institution blacklists being put together by the Central Bank.

Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev also played down the ruble’s weakness on Thursday. “This is entirely natural,” he said.

He said the weaker ruble was connected with a downward revision of the country’s current account surplus and was consistent with the Central Bank’s policy shift towards targeting inflation rather than the exchange rate.

A further weakening of the ruble was possible after the end of the monthly tax period. “There is such a possibility, a small one, but it exists,” he said.

Exporters pay major taxes at the end of each month, requiring conversion of foreign currency into rubles. Such liquidity flows are closely watched by traders as they can move the exchange rate.

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Missile system aimed at Russia? 'US can't guarantee it's not'

Iran is another story. There, sanctions seem to be working. In place, in essence, since the fall of the Shah in the 1979 Iranian revolution, they have been progressively tightened to the point the country is vying with Greece for economic dog of the decade. In the past year, Iran’s gross domestic product has declined by more than 5 per cent, annual inflation is running at no less than 40 per cent and youth unemployment is almost 30 per cent. Oil exports have plummeted to as little as one million barrels a day from 2.5 million in 2011. Before the revolution, the figure was close to six million.

It comes as no surprise, then, that Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, has been given a mandate by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, to strike a deal with Americans to end the pain. The phone conversation between U.S. President Barack Obama and Rouhani—the first direct contact between the presidents of the two countries since 1979—suggests a diplomatic breakthrough is possible, as long as Iran can convince the West that its nuclear program is entirely for peaceful purposes, a claim to be verified by a rigorous international inspections regime. While Israel will never believe that Iran’s uranium-enrichment activities are aimed at anything but bomb making, businesses around the world can’t wait for Iran to rejoin the global trading and banking system.

The developed world is hunting for new markets as the BRIC countries—Brazil, Russia, India and China—go from economic gallop to trot. With a population of about 75 million, a low average age, a big middle class and an extensive (and free) education system, Iran theoretically represents the equivalent of a Group of Eight country. “Iran has a huge pent-up demand for cars, consumer products and industrial products,” says Gary Sick, the senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Middle East Institute who served on the National Security Council under presidents Ford, Carter and Reagan.

Even though no deal appears imminent, economists and management consultants lost no time in the autumn sizing Iran as the phone lines between Washington and Tehran lit up. In October, the Boston Consulting Group published “Beyond BRIC,” a study that focused on the expanding auto markets in 15 high-growth developing economies. Iran placed third in auto market potential, only slightly behind Indonesia and Mexico, with expected car sales of 1.5 million in 2020. That would put it on par with Canada’s 2012 car sales and well ahead of Italy’s.

Iran would be a godsend for multinationals such as Unilever and manufacturers such as Boeing. The parts-starved and crash-prone Iranian passenger plane fleet is in sore need of renewal.

This fall, the international oil industry was buzzing with excitement about Iran. Some foreign oil companies have dabbled there, but few did so with enthusiasm because of the sanctions and because Iran’s resources nationalism prevented them from taking equity stakes in projects. That also meant they couldn’t book the reserves on their financial statements. The foreigners were limited to arcane “buyback” contracts with the Iranian National Oil Co., which reimburse a foreign company for its investment through production allotments.

But Iran needs to modernize its clapped-out oil and gas infrastructure. In late October, the Financial Times, quoting Mehdi Hosseini, an adviser to the Iranian oil minister, said the buyback contracts would be replaced by contracts that “will be very, very close to international norms.”

If so, some adventurous Canadian oil companies would be tempted to delve into Iran. A couple of them have already been in the neighbourhood. Talisman Energy has been drilling in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq. Suncor was active in Syria before the civil war. In September, Iran reportedly invited several big companies, among them Total of France, Statoil of Norway and Japan’s Inpex, all of which had worked in Iran before the sanctions came on strong, to come back.

There’s more. Pipelines to Pakistan, contemplated for a long time, could be built. Iran’s consumer and infrastructure market—trains built by Bombardier, perhaps—is potentially vast.

In September, 2012, Prime Minister Stephen Harper closed the Canadian embassy in Iran and called Iran “a clear and present danger.” It was a foolish, ill-timed decision that may put Canadian companies at a disadvantage if Iran is allowed to open itself to the world.

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Revolution here to stayImmortal Technique full OWS interview

Revolution here to stay! Immortal Technique full OWS interview The young revolutionary movement Occupy Wall Street needs to be pushed forward to evolve into a working force that can influence US domestic affairs, believes Immortal Technique, a hip-hop star who has backed the group from the start. As the demonstrations against the Wall Street corporations enter their fourth week in New York, elsewhere they have grown into a nationwide protest with 45 states and nearly 200 cities now involved in the rally.

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Generation Drain Mass exodus spawns ghost towns in rural Russia

As europe slides toward something like an economic meltdown, the crisis has created a new lost generation, a massive percent of young people unable to get work despite education... the christian broadcasting network cbn - Europes Bleak Economy Spawns Lost Generation - 

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No to Napoleon 'PC gone mad' as French textbooks purge past

No to Napoleon: 'PC gone mad' as French textbooks purge past Parents and teachers across France are up in arms over new textbooks which carry accounts of French history revised to avoid insulting ethnic minority pupils. They say common sense has been sacrificed to political correctness in French schools. Natives of France now fear their identity will soon disappear along with their history.

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Post-9/11 Crusade How to win enemies and terrorize people

Security is being stepped up across the US following a terror threat on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. American intelligence intercepted communications from an Al-Qaeda operative in Pakistan indicating plans for a vehicle bomb plot against New York City or Washington. As RT's Marina Portnaya reports, a decade on many U.S. citizens still feel vulnerable in their own country.

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Max Keiser WW3 is on as Wall St. banks plunder economy

The loss of America's AAA credit score has sparked panicked sell-offs on global markets. After several days of concern over whether France would retain its highest status, ratings giants reaffirmed its top billing on Wednesday. But investors remain unconvinced the country's finances are solid enough. Problems in the Eurozone will be up for discussion by the French and German leaders next week.

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Damage Done US debt deal saga over as budget hole deepens

U.s. lawmakers have finally reached an emergency deal to avoid a debt default, after weeks of political bickering and stalemate. if passed by congress, the two-step compromise will permit american borrowing to continue after tuesday's deadline, in exchange for more than $2 trillion in federal cuts over the next decade. the deal was struck after barack obama held last-ditch intensive talks with dem - Damage Done: Us Debt Deal Saga Over As Budget Hole Deepens 
Etiketler: Damage, Done, Debt, Deal, Saga, Over, Budget, Hole, Deepens

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Last shuttle Atlantis launch End to NASA 'space jobs'?

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden flanked by Space Exploration Technologies President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) Gwynne Shotwell and Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Executive Vice-President and General Manager Frank Culbertson along with several other NASA officials hosted a news conference on Wednesday Nov. 13 to discuss the closing of the space agency’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program.

With opening comments starting at 11:30 a.m. EST, the trio were joined by Alan Lindenmoyer, the head of NASA’s Commercial Program, Phil McAlister, the director of Commercial Spaceflight Development with NASA and Frank Slazer the vice-president of Space Systems, Aerospace Industries Association.

“More than two years ago at the end of the space shuttle program two American companies, SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corporation began work to restore the US’ capabilities in terms of delivering and returning experiments and supplies to the International Space Station, and in so doing – decrease our reliance on foreign launch service providers,” Bolden said during opening remarks at the conference. “Their successes mark the conclusion of NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services or “COTS” program. They are now clear to begun providing regular transportation services to the ISS.”

Those watching NASA Television were probably a little confused as the space agency had listed the news conference as “Completion of the Commercial Crew and Cargo Program.” Given that commercial crew has yet to launch an astronaut and that commercial cargo is still ongoing under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract – it was unclear why the


COTS was incredibly successful with two separate launch vehicles and spacecraft being developed under this initiative. It also served to return the capability of launching cargo from U.S. soil, something which has been lacking since the last space shuttle mission, STS-135 on space shuttle Atlantis, concluded in 2011. COTS was never planned to be a program in which new technologies were to be tested. Rather, it was one designed to validate designs that could replace a portion of the shuttles’ up mass (the amount of cargo delivered to orbit) capabilities.

“We weren’t looking at developing new technology under this program, rather we were looking at utilizing existing technology and I think that COTS has shown that this model works very well,” Lindenmoyer said. “What we’ve shown with COTS is that, while this isn’t the right model to do everything we do at NASA, it certainly is a model that works. I think we made the right choice!’


Orbital’s Frank Culbertson also revealed the name of the next Cygnus spacecraft which will fly to the International Space Station – the C. Gordon Fullerton. That mission is currently slated to launch on Dec. 8, 2013. Fullerton, like Low, was a shuttle astronaut, he piloted the B-52 Stratofortress which deployed a Pegasus rocket in 1991. Fullerton passed away in August of this year.Today’s conference also served as an awards ceremony of sorts with Lindenmoyer, Shotwell and Culbertson each receiving NASA Group Achievement Awards on behalf of the teams/companies that they represent. They were presented with these awards from for their efforts on NASA’s commercial programs.

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'Enough is Enough' Anti-war protest calls for Afghan pullout

Protestors hang anti-war banners from the scaffolding infront of parliament ahead of a debate on the Afghan conflict. Photograph: Carl Court/AFP/Getty Images


Military families will deliver a letter to parliament tomorrow calling for troops to be pulled out of the "unwinnable" war in Afghanistan.

More than 30 people who have either lost loved ones there or have sons and daughters serving have written to MPs ahead of tomorrow's parliamentary debate on the conflict's future.

Joan Humphreys, whose grandson Kevin Elliott was killed last year, said there was a growing feeling among military families that the troops should be brought home.

"Politicians now admit it is futile but they still want our young people to go over there and risk their lives ... These deaths are devastating large numbers of families and I just hate the thought of that last soldier dying out there."

Chris Nineham, of the Stop the War campaign, said the number of people with military ties who oppose the war had grown in the past few months.

"More and more mothers, grandads, girlfriends and even ex-soldiers are contacting us wanting to know what they can do to get the troops home from Afghanistan," he said. "They say there is dismay in the forces about it. Everyone knows this is a doomed, futile mission, and people cannot accept that the politicians are forcing their loved ones to risk their lives for it."

Terry Flowers, 79, whose grandson is due to go to Afghanistan within the next three weeks, is one of the people who signed the letter.

"He is only 19 and four weeks and he should not be going out there to fight this war – there is no good reason for us to be there," said Flowers, who served in the army during the Korean war. "A lot of our boys are dying over there as well as all those civilians and it is for nothing. I am just waiting for someone big to admit what is going on and stand up and say enough is enough – but no one seems capable."

In the letter the families say the war has not made the world a safer place.

"If we stay in Afghanistan until 2015 as the government plans hundreds more soldiers and thousands more civilians may die. Politicians who send and keep the British military in Afghanistan should take heed of the majority of the population who want the troops home."

Tomorrow's debate will be one of the first opportunities MPs have had to vote on the war.

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Red Alert Market plummet sparks panic avalanche

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$46 million for asphalt price fixing

Finland's Lemminkainen to pay $46 million for asphalt price fixing

By Jussi Rosendahl

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finnish construction firm Lemminkainen (HEX:LEM1S) must pay damages of up to 34 million euros ($46 million) plus interest to local authorities in the country for fixing asphalt prices with competitors, a Helsinki district court ruled on Thursday.

The company had faced claims for as much as 129 million euros but the court dismissed demands made by the Finnish state while allowing the claims from the municipal authorities, saying the state itself had been involved in the nationwide cartel that operated in the period 1994-2002.

Lemminkainen said it would record the cost of the damages in its fourth-quarter results and warned that, as a result, 2013 results would be "clearly negative".

However, shares in the company rose 4.1 percent to 15.04 euros as investors were relieved over the amount of claims.

"Had all the demands passed the court it would have been bad for the company. I don't believe they will complain on this decision, they probably want to get the whole case out of the way for good," said Sauli Vilen, analyst at Inderes equity research.

"One can also assume that even if other parties complained over this, the damages won't increase very much by new court rounds."

The company, 10-percent owned by Sweden's Peab (STO:PEAB B), has been cutting costs after operational problems and weak construction markets hit profits in recent years.

"We were ... prepared also for this outcome. We have sufficient financing arrangements and liquid funds that will cover these damages," said Timo Kohtamaki, Lemminkainen's chief executive in a statement.

In 2009 the country's supreme administrative court ordered Lemminkainen to pay a penalty of 68 million euros for being the leader of the nationwide price-fixing. Six other companies were also fined, including NCC Roads (STO:NCC B) and Skanska Asfaltti (STO:SKA B). These companies were told by the district court on Thursday to pay further damages totalling about 3 million euros between them.

($1 = 0.7367 euros)

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Stronger U.S. data spurs world shares, yen falls

 Pedestrians are reflected on a stock quotation board at a brokerage in Tokyo November 

(Reuters) - World shares rose toward six-year highs on Thursday and the yen languished at fresh lows against the euro and dollar after sentiment was boosted by a batch of strong U.S. economic data.

The signs of an improving U.S. jobs market and more cheerful consumers had spurred Wall Street to a record close on Wednesday, while reinforcing talk the Federal Reserve could start scaling back its stimulus, which supported the dollar.

"Markets have taken on board the view that (U.S.) rates are not going up next year even if they start tapering soon," said Simon Smith, chief economist at FXPro.

As the buoyant mood spread, Japan's Nikkei hit its highest close in nearly six years .N225, and Asian shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0.6 percent to reach a one-week high.

In Europe, Germany's DAX index touched an all-time high as trading got underway while the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 was up 0.4 percent and on track to post its third straight month of gains.

MSCI's world equity index, which tracks share moves across 45 countries, gained 0.2 percent, reaching its best level since the start of 2008 .MIWD00000PUS.

DOLLAR DEMAND

In the currency markets, the dollar popped above 102.00 yen for the first time since May 29, while the euro traded just under $1.36 and came within striking distance of 139.00 yen, reaching its highest against Japan's currency since June 2009.

So far this month, both the euro and dollar are up nearly 4 percent on the yen which investors have been selling to raise funds for carry trades as the Bank of Japan remains committed to keeping ultra-loose monetary policy to shore up growth.

The surging greenback, which gains as the heightened tapering expectations push bond yields upwards, was also putting pressure on commodity bloc currencies like the Australian and New Zealand dollars and many emerging market currencies with weak economic prospects.

The Indonesian rupiah hit the 12,000 per dollar for the first time in nearly five years, while the Thai baht slid to the weakest level in 11 weeks. 

INFLATION CONCERN

European bond markets were focused on the outlook for inflation and its implications for the European Central Bank, which holds a policy meeting next week.

Spanish inflation rose 0.3 percent year-on-year in November from zero in the previous month, fuelling expectations that overall euro zone inflation figures, due on Friday, will come out above a 0.8 percent forecast.

"The Spanish inflation figure ... will take a little bit of pressure off the ECB to do something at the next meeting," said Elwin de Groot, senior market economist at Rabobank in Utrecht.

German inflation due at 1300 GMT though could have a bigger influence on market expectations about the ECB outlook. Ahead of that data, 10-year German Bund yields were up 3.5 basis points to 1.74 percent.

Elsewhere, Italian 10-year yields were flat at 4.065 percent before an auction of up to 2.5 billion euros of 2024 bonds. The small amount on offer will ensure a smooth sale, analysts said.

Among commodities, Brent crude was holding above $111 a barrel as supply worries offset the positive outlook for demand from the signs of solid U.S. recovery.

Gold snapped a two-day decline, gaining 0.3 percent to about $1,241.7 an ounce and moving away from a four-month low of $1,227.34 hit on Monday, though the outlook remained weak.

"In view of the apparent improvement in the (U.S.) economy, investors are slowly pulling funds out of gold for better avenues of investment," said Phillip Futures analyst Joyce Liu.

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