UPDATE 1-Russia calls on U.S. to help stop Kiev's military drive

Sat May 3, 2014 2:21pm EDT

(Adds details about Lavrov conversation with German minister)

MOSCOW May 3 (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has told his U.S. counterpart John Kerry that the U.S. should use its influence to make Ukraine's government immediately stop military operations in south-east Ukraine, the Russian foreign ministry said on Saturday.

Lavrov also said that it was important that the mediating role of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was increased to secure Kiev's fulfilment of the Geneva declaration on de-escalating tensions in Ukraine.

"Chances of this still exist," the ministry said in a statement, as long as all Ukrainian regions are represented in a national dialogue on constitutional reform, and "terrorists" from the Right Sector - a Ukrainian nationalist group in western Ukraine - group are curbed.

Lavrov, in a phone conversation with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, also said he was concerned about reports that Ukraine's army was preparing to storm cities in south-east Ukraine including Slaviansk, according to a statement from the foreign ministry.

The town of Slaviansk in eastern Ukraine has been turned into heavily fortified redoubt by pro-Russian separatists.

On Saturday Ukraine said it was pressing on with an offensive in the area for a second day, and had recaptured a television tower and a security services building from rebels in Kramatorsk, a town near the rebel stronghold of Slaviansk.

Steinmeier agreed that violence should halt, the statement said.

(Reporting by Jason Bush and Megan Davies; Editing by Stephen Powell)

• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Print
• Reprints

18.12 | 0 komentar | Read More

Russia's Lavrov calls on Kerry to use U.S. influence to stop Kiev's military operation

MOSCOW Sat May 3, 2014 11:06am EDT

MOSCOW May 3 (Reuters) - Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has told his U.S. counterpart John Kerry that the U.S. should use its influence to make Ukraine's government immediately stop military operations in south-east Ukraine, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

Lavrov also said that it was important that the mediating role of the OSCE was increased to secure Kiev's fulfillment of the Geneva declaration on de-escalating tensions in Ukraine.

"Chances of this still exist," the statement said, as long as all Ukrainian regions are represented in a national dialogue on constitutional reform, and "terrorists" from the Right Sector group are curbed.

18.12 | 0 komentar | Read More

Tight finish seen in Panama presidential election

Sun May 4, 2014 1:00am EDT

  By Christine Murray and Elida Moreno      PANAMA CITY, May 4 (Reuters) - Panama's presidential  election on Sunday is expected to be the closest in decades, as  the opposition battles to deny outgoing President Ricardo  Martinelli the chance to maintain an indirect hold over the  booming Central American economy.      Recent polls show the three top candidates within a few  points of one another in a race pitting the current  administration, which oversaw a multi-billion dollar public  works drive, against challengers from both the left and right.      The winner will inherit oversight of a major expansion of  the Panama Canal, which briefly stalled earlier this year after  a row over costs between the canal and the building consortium.      Still, the campaign has focused more on personalities than  government policy, which is not expected to change dramatically  regardless of who emerges as the winner.      A banking and trading hub, Panama is best known for the  canal that links the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Accounting  directly for 8 percent of gross domestic product, it has helped  fuel the fastest growth in Latin America in the last few years.      Maintaining that performance will be a big challenge for the  next president, who the 62-year-old Martinelli openly insists  will be the former businessman and housing minister Jose Domingo  Arias of the ruling Democratic Change (CD) party.      Seen by opponents as a proxy for Martinelli, whom the  constitution bars from running again in 2014, Arias' running  mate is the president's wife, Marta Linares de Martinelli.      She has no formal political experience, but Arias has  dismissed suggestions she is not up to the job.      "You can choose between the representatives of old politics,  who always governed for their own privilege, or for those from  new politics who can take the country even further," Arias said  at a packed closing ceremony on Thursday.         An Arias win would make his party the first to gain  re-election since a U.S. invasion in 1989 to oust military  strongman Manuel Noriega, who has been behind bars ever since.      Running neck-and-neck with Arias is moderate leftist  challenger Juan Carlos Navarro of the Democratic Revolutionary  Party (PRD), a former mayor of Panama City.      Navarro is vowing to improve government transparency after  Martinelli had to fend off allegations that the infrastructure  contracts he handed out were tainted by corruption.      Just behind in third is the Panamenista Party's Juan Carlos  Varela, the center-right vice-president. He helped Martinelli to  win the presidency in 2009, but the two later fell out.      Martinelli, a supermarket tycoon who founded the CD 16 years  ago and had popularity rates of around 65 percent at the end of  2013, recently inaugurated the first metro in Central America in  Panama City. Rides are free until after the vote.      "He's been extremely able at doing things that people  believe are the things that a government should be doing," said  Felipe Chapman, chairman of Panama's stock exchange.      Panama's growth spurt has lifted living standards, and at up  to $624 a month, the minimum wage in Panama is among the highest  in Latin America. But it has not been enough to offset the bite  of inflation, which is keenly felt by much of the 3.7 million  population, around one in four of whom live in poverty.      The discontent has led to a nationwide construction strike  over pay since April 25. That has halted thousands of projects,  including work on the canal expansion, much to the annoyance of  Martinelli, who is president until July 1.       Inside El Chorrillo, a Panama City district built at the  turn of the century to house canal laborers, voters said it was  obvious Martinelli would not be far away if the CD won.      "They can't hide that the (first lady) wants to hold onto  power," said Cecilia Smith, a 65-year-old supporting Navarro. "I  grew up in this country and I've seen that people who have had  power have money, and those who haven't are worth nothing."     (Editing by Simon Gardner and Dave Graham; Editing by Nick  Zieminski)  

• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Print
• Reprints

18.12 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ukraine says Odessa unrest planned by and financed from abroad

KIEV Sat May 3, 2014 6:00am EDT

KIEV May 3 (Reuters) - Ukraine's security service said on Saturday illegal military groups from Moldova's breakaway region of Transdniestria and Russian groups worked together to foment unrest in the southern port city of Odessa.

"The unrest, which occurred on May 2 in Odessa and led to clashes and many casualties, was due to foreign interference," a spokeswoman for the SBU security service told a news conference.

She said former top officials, once part of ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich's inner circle, had financed "saboteurs" to foment the unrest, blaming Serhiy Arbuzov and Oleksander Klymenko, who were now "hiding in a neighbouring country". (Reporting by Natalia Zinets; Writing by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Louise Ireland)

18.12 | 0 komentar | Read More

UPDATE 1-Kremlin says Kiev, West responsible for Odessa bloodshed - agencies

Sat May 3, 2014 5:44am EDT

(Adds quotes, background)

MOSCOW May 3 (Reuters) - Rusian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said on Saturday that both the Kiev authorities and their backers in the West were directly responsible for bloodshed in the Ukrainian city of Odessa, Russian new agencies reported.

"Kiev and its Western sponsors are practically provoking the bloodshed and bear direct responsibility for it," RIA Novosti quoted spokesman Dmitry Peskov as telling reporters.

Dozens of people died in a fire and others were shot in fighting between pro- and anti-Russian groups on the streets of the Black Sea port on Friday. In the east, Ukrainian forces launched an operation, condemned by Russia as "punitive", to dislodge separatists from the town of Slaviansk.

Asked how Russia will respond, Peskov said that he was unable to say what actions Russia would take.

"I cannot answer this question, this element is absolutely new to us," he said in comments quoted by Interfax.

Peskov said the violence made the Kiev authorities' plan to hold a presidential election on May 25 "absurd".

"It is obvious that in conditions of military action, a punitive operation and mass killings, it is, at the very least, absurd to talk about elections," RIA Novosti quoted him as saying.

Kiev accuses Moscow of backing pro-Russian groups in eastern Ukraine. Moscow denies invovlement with the rebels.

"Russia, or anyone else, or even any country, has effectively lost influence over these people because it will be impossible to persuade them to disarm against the background of a direct threat to their lives," Peskov was quoted as saying.

He called for dialogue with European partners to help resolve the crisis.

"We understand that without dialogue with our European partners a resolution is practically impossible. But we cannot seek dialogue alone," Peskov said.

"President Putin, Russia will continue the policy aimed at de-escalation. We shall do whatever is possible and wherever it is possible so as to follow the de-escalation path step by step," Interfax quoted him as saying.

(Reporting by Nigel Stephenson, editing by Jason Bush)

• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Print
• Reprints

18.12 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ukraine says heavy fighting in Kramatorsk, war descends in its east

KIEV Sat May 3, 2014 6:25am EDT

KIEV May 3 (Reuters) - The head of Ukraine's anti-terrorist centre said on Saturday there was heavy fighting in the eastern town of Kramatorsk, south of rebel stronghold Slaviansk.

Offering few details, Vasyl Krutov told a news conference: "There is gunfire and clashes around Kramatorsk ... What we are facing in the Donetsk region and in the eastern regions is not just some kind of short-lived uprising, it is in fact a war." (Reporting by Natalia Zinets; Writing by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Louise Ireland)

18.12 | 0 komentar | Read More

World Bank approves $12 bln loan over 5 years for Pakistan-finance ministry

ISLAMABAD Fri May 2, 2014 5:59am EDT

ISLAMABAD May 2 (Reuters) - The World Bank has approved a $12 billion loan over five years for cash-strapped Pakistan, the country's finance ministry said on Friday.

The finance ministry said the money will target "energy, economy, (fighting) extremism and education", with $1 billion being transferred to Pakistan in the next week.

The loan will carry a two percent interest rate.

Pakistan is struggling to overcome a massive energy crisis, and a shortfall in tax revenues, and has borrowed heavily to pay government expenditure.

18.12 | 0 komentar | Read More

Pro-Russian rebels leave prosecutor's office, TV centre in Ukraine's Luhansk

KIEV Fri May 2, 2014 6:31am EDT

KIEV May 2 (Reuters) - Pro-Russian separatists left the prosecutor's office and television centre in Ukraine's eastern city of Luhansk on Friday, the Interior Ministry said.

"The (prosecutor's) office was freed today thanks to negotiations between the local authorities and people who had seized the building," the ministry said in a statement. It said in another report that separatists had also left the television centre.

Both were seized on Tuesday. (reporting by Natalia Zinets, writing by Elizabeth Piper, editing by)

18.12 | 0 komentar | Read More

Kremlin says Kiev will be held responsible for "punitive operation"

MOSCOW Fri May 2, 2014 6:29am EDT

MOSCOW May 2 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said on Friday that Kiev would be held responsible "first of all by its people" for its decision to launch a "punitive operation" in south-east Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, speaking on Rossiya 24 television, called on Europe and the United States to give their assessment of the situation in the area, where "aviation is being used against the population" and urged Kiev to think again about its actions, according to the report. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin, editing by Nigel Stephenson)

18.12 | 0 komentar | Read More

EMERGING MARKETS-Russian stocks set for 4th month in red, emerging index to end April flat

Wed Apr 30, 2014 6:14am EDT

* Investors waiting for outcome of Fed meeting

* Emerging markets weighed down by Ukraine-Russia dispute

* Markets taking breather before May Day holiday

By Sujata Rao

LONDON, April 30 (Reuters) - Russian stocks were headed on Wednesday for their fourth straight month of losses as separatist activity escalated in Ukraine, while broader emerging stocks also fell half a percent.

U.S. 30-year and 10-year bond yields held near one-week highs as data and robust company earnings paint a picture of a recovering economy. Higher yields on "safe" assets can make emerging markets less attractive.

Investors will wait to see what the U.S. Federal Reserve says at the conclusion of its two-day policy meeting later in the day. The bank is seen on track to withdraw another $10 billion from its monthly bond-buying programme.

Emerging markets are also weighed down by events in Ukraine and Russia, with armed pro-Moscow separatists storming government buildings in eastern Ukrainian towns, despite new U.S., European and Japanese sanctions on Russia.

Russian stocks initially fell 1 percent but later clawed back some losses, after a Western sanctions list that was less harsh than expected. But they are down 4.5 percent on the month and have lost more than 13 percent so far in 2014.

The rouble fell 0.3 percent to the dollar and five-year credit default swaps rose 5 basis points to 261 bps.

"We had a correction in dollar/rouble and a rebound in equities after sanctions turned out to be fairly mild but the fundamental story didn't change," said Luis Costa, head of CEEMEA FX and debt strategy at Citi.

"We are seeing a break-up in Russia's growth model, we will probably see economic contraction and all the channels of financing to Russia are being disrupted. Plus we are heading for a holiday and that's another reason to be long dollar."

The International Monetary Fund has cut its 2014 growth forecast for Russia and expects capital outflow of $100 billion this year, the Fund's mission chief to Moscow said on Wednesday.

Markets in Russia and much of Europe and Asia are shut on Thursday.

PORTFOLIO INFLOWS

Broader emerging stocks weakened and are flat on the month after posting gains in February and March while sovereign dollar bond yield spreads tightened 4 bps, outperforming underlying U.S. Treasuries.

Investors have been returning to emerging markets in recent weeks, with the Institute of International Finance estimating $25 billion in portfolio inflows over April adding to $55 billion received in the previous two months.

April has seen more than $60 billion in emerging hard currency bond issuance despite the absence of Russian borrowers.

Analysts say that despite the latest move up in U.S. yields, Treasuries, the underlying benchmark asset for emerging bonds, have stayed remarkably steady with the 10-year/30-year curve gradually flattening - a positive for emerging bond issuance.

"Markets are taking a breather today, knowing we are heading towards another Fed statement but in general people are less scared of a huge super-spike in U.S. rates," Costa added.

Elsewhere the Turkish lira rose 0.2 percent to the dollar while two-year benchmark bond yields fell to 9.22 percent, its lowest rate so far this year after the Central Bank Governor Erdem Basci hinted at the possibility of a rate cut.

He gave no timing but analysts said it would be a mistake for Turkey to reverse rate rises from January, given political risks before a presidential election and still-high inflation.

"I don't think we can say definitively that Turkey is out of the woods yet ... Any quick move now to cut rates would just be seen as the central bank responding to government pressure. Central bank credibility is absolutely on the line in Turkey at present," Standard Bank analyst Tim Ash said.

In central Europe, shares in Hungary's OTP Bank fell 1 percent just before a European Court ruling in a lawsuit that could impact the bottom line of OTP and other local banks.

Central European currencies rose against the euro after the single currency was dragged higher versus the dollar following inflation data that was seen as unlikely to spur the European Central Bank into pumping more money into the economy.

For GRAPHIC on emerging market FX performance 2014, see link.reuters.com/jus35t

For GRAPHIC on MSCI emerging index performance 2014, see link.reuters.com/weh36s

For GRAPHIC on MSCI emerging Europe performance 2014, see link.reuters.com/jun28s

For GRAPHIC on MSCI frontier index performance 2014, see link.reuters.com/zyh97s

For CENTRAL EUROPE market report, see

For TURKISH market report, see

For RUSSIAN market report, see ) (Editing by Alison Williams)

• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Print
• Reprints

18.12 | 0 komentar | Read More