(Reuters) - Four dozen Democratic lawmakers on Thursday expressed concern about Japan joining free trade talks with the United States and urged President Barack Obama to maintain U.S. tariffs on Japanese autos and trucks if Tokyo does enter the negotiations.
The plea came one day before Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to announce Japan's
interest in joining talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a proposed free trade deal between the United States and 10 countries.
That worries Ford Motor Co and other Detroit-based automakers, which fear losing more sales to Japanese imports. A U.S.-led push to finish the TPP pact by the end of this year adds to the carmakers' anxiety.
"In an industry with razor-thin profit margins, the elimination of the 2.5 percent car tariff (as well as the 25 percent truck tariff) would be a major benefit to Japan without any gain for a vital American industry, leading to more Japanese imports, less American production and fewer American jobs," the lawmakers said in a letter to Obama.
The group included Representative Sander Levin, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee. He is from Michigan and one of the fiercest defenders of the U.S. auto industry in Congress.
His brother, Senator Carl Levin, another Michigan Democrat who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, also signed the letter, along with eight other senators and nearly 40 members of the House.
"What the letter does is sound an alarm about Japan's participation" in the TPP, Sander Levin said in an interview with Reuters.
He said he was skeptical that negotiations could tear down regulatory and other non-tariff barriers that he said have long kept American autos out of Japan's market.
Levin, who has a history of voting for most trade agreements, played a major role in persuading the Obama administration to renegotiate auto provisions of a free trade pact with South Korea.
The revised pact, which took force one year ago, allowed the United States to keep its 2.5 percent tariff on South Korean autos until the fifth year and to keep its 25 percent tariff on South Korean light trucks until the eighth year, when it will begin to be phased out.
But Levin and the other lawmakers argued in their letter that the same approach could not be taken with Japan.
"While some have compared this challenge to the one we faced with Korea, the Japanese auto market is more impenetrable, the history of formidable barriers and imbalanced trade is longer, and the magnitude of the problem is far greater than with Korea," the group said.
"Despite being the third-largest auto market in the world, Japan ranks last among OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) members in terms of auto market import penetration, at 5.9 percent in 2012," they said.
The lawmakers blame those low import numbers on a web of barriers, including currency manipulation, discriminatory taxes, onerous and costly certification procedures for foreign cars and unwillingness by Japanese auto dealers to sell foreign cars.
Meanwhile, Japan is concerned about being pressured in the TPP talks to open its long-protected markets for rice and other politically sensitive farm products.
In the aftermath of Abe's recent visit to Washington, there have been rumors the two sides have already struck a deal that would let the United States keep its auto tariffs in exchange for Japan's protecting some agricultural products.
Levin said he had not heard anything from the administration to confirm that. "We have no indication from the administration there is any such deal," Levin said.
(Reporting by Doug Palmer; Editing by Kenneth Barry and Dan Grebler)
The French foreign minister said on Thursday that France and Britain want an urgent European Union meeting to persuade their allies to lift an embargo on supplying arms to the Syrian opposition. Mana Rabiee reports.
At least 21 people are killed and many are wounded in a series of explosions in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Thursday. Travis Brecher reports
(Reuters) - Seven foreign hostages kidnapped last month by a Nigerian Islamist group from a construction company compound have been killed, the Italian and Greek foreign ministries said on Sunday.The al Qaeda-affiliated group Ansaru announced on Saturday that it had killed the hostages seized on February 7 in the northern state of Bauchi because of attempts by Nigerian and British forces to free them.
It published grainy photos purporting to show the bodies of a Briton, an Italian, a Greek and four Lebanese workers snatched from the Lebanese firm Setraco's premises.
Foreign governments had not been able to confirm the killings until Sunday. Italy and Greece denied that any attempt to rescue them had been made by any of the governments involved. Nigeria had no confirmation of the killings.
"Our checks conducted in coordination with the other countries concerned lead us to believe that the news of the killing of the hostages seized last month is true," an Italian Foreign Ministry statement said.
"There was never any military attempt to rescue the hostages by any of the governments concerned," it said, adding that the president had sent his condolences to the Italian's family.
The British foreign office named the British hostage as Brendan Vaughan. An intelligence source in Abuja named the Italian as Silvano Trevisan, adding that he had been suffering from hypertension and heart problems.
Security has become a top concern for oil and infrastructure companies across the region since gunmen loyal to al Qaeda's North African franchise stormed an Algerian natural gas plant in January. Up to 37 foreigners died during an attempted rescue mission by the Algerian armed forces.
The risk posed by Islamists across west and north Africa has soared since France sent troops to Mail to wrest control of its northern territory from al Qaeda-affiliated rebels.
Islamist groups have also spread across the north and center of Nigeria, Africa's top oil producer, where they have become the main security threat after an amnesty ended an uprising by armed groups in the oil-producing southeastern Niger Delta.
Britain said it was "likely" the Briton was killed along with the six others, with Foreign Secretary William Hague saying: "This was an act of cold-blooded murder, which I condemn in the strongest terms."
Greece confirmed its citizen was dead, adding the Foreign Ministry had informed his family. Lebanon declined to comment.
Nigerian authorities continued to say they had no evidence, after doubting the veracity of the Ansaru statement on Saturday.
"We have launched a full investigation to find out what has really happened, but for now we really cannot way whether this report is true or not," Bauchi state police spokesman Hassan Mohammed Auyo said by telephone.
SECURITY THREAT
Western security officials say growing links between Nigerian Islamists and Saharan groups such as al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has led them to focus more on Western targets, rather than local security forces or civilians.
French intervention in Mali has also heightened the risk to Western interests in Nigeria, analysts say, and French oil major Total moved its staff from the Nigerian capital Abuja, where the main insurgent group Boko Haram operates, in January.
Kidnappings - including some targeting foreigners - have been rife in the southeast for many years. But the gangs there usually seek a payout and hostages tend to be released quickly, whereas Islamist kidnappings in the north are often fatal.
The hostage-taking at the compound in the remote town of Jama'are was the largest number of foreigners seized in the mostly Muslim north of Nigeria since an Islamist insurgency intensified two years ago.
Ansaru declared itself a separate group from Boko Haram in January, although security officials believe them to be closely linked. Its full name is Jama'atu Ansarul Musilimina Fi Biladis Sudan ("Vanguards for the Protection of Muslims in Black Africa").
Ansaru was suspected of being behind the killing of a British and Italian hostage a year ago in northwest Nigeria during a botched attempt to rescue them by British and Nigerian forces. Britain has labeled it a terrorist organization.
It also claimed responsibility for the kidnapping in December of a French national, still missing.
Nigerian authorities are still looking for a French family of seven kidnapped in northern Cameroon and moved over the border by militants who said they were from Boko Haram.
(Additional reporting by Inusa Jaba in Bauchi and Tim Cocks in Lagos; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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Greece seeks buyers for local units of Cypriot banks
(Reuters) - Athens has started exploring local lenders' interest in taking over the Greek units of Cypriot banks, as part of the island's international bailout agreed earlier on Saturday, Greece's finance minister said.
Cypriot banks will receive the bulk of the 10 billion euros ($13 billion) that Nicosia will get from euro zone countries to stave off bankruptcy. Unlike in previous bailouts for other nations, the rescue package is co-funded by levies on bank deposits.
Units of Cypriot banks in Greece, which account for about a tenth of the country's banking market, were specifically excluded from the levy after a deal to transfer them to other lenders.
"The Bank of Greece will explore the interest of Greek banks in purchasing these assets," Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said after a conference with the country's central bank Governor George Provopoulos.
Cyprus's two top lenders with a presence in Greece are Bank of Cyprus and Popular Bank. Greek operations accounted for more than a quarter of total group operating income at Bank of Cyprus and 10 percent at Popular, according to nine-month 2012 results.
The interest will be explored as quickly as possible, perhaps even before Tuesday when Greek lenders open again after a Monday holiday, a senior central bank official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
Greek lenders have themselves been bailed out with up to 50 billion euros in EU/IMF funds after a government debt restructuring in 2012 severely hit the value of their bondholdings.
A likely buyer was Hellenic Postbank, a formerly state-controlled lender which was itself bailed out in January, three banking sources told Reuters.
Postbank, whose capital shortfall was estimated at 3.7 billion euros, passed into the full ownership of Greece's bank bailout fund (HFSF) with a view to being sold at some point to private investors.
"It seems that the Postbank is seriously considered," one senior Postbank manager said.
Euro zone finance ministers said earlier on Saturday after the Cyprus bailout they welcomed the prospect "that an agreement could be reached on the Greek branches of the Cypriot banks, which protects the stability of both the Greek and the Cypriot banking systems".
Cypriot units' takeover would be done in a way which would not burden Greek debt, Stournaras said.
Budget deadlock squeezes military members seeking education
(Reuters) - For Airman First Class Stephen Sinatra, the budget cuts prompted by deadlock in Washington have turned his plans upside down.
Sinatra, who is in the U.S. Air Force stationed in Washington, D.C., is taking online college classes thanks to a tuition assistance program for members of the military that has been halted as a money-saving move.
"I don't make much money," Sinatra said. "To be able to utilize this money to go to school and better myself, it helps a lot. That's almost what keeps me to be motivated to keep going in the military."
The tuition assistance program, which provides up to $4,500 per year per student, is one victim of across-the-board cuts known as sequestration that are forcing government agencies to reduce spending. The $85 billion in cuts began on March 1 after a gridlocked U.S. Congress was unable to resolve fiscal fights and find a solution to replace the sequestration.
Comments left on military message boards and Facebook show a widespread disappointment with the sudden termination of the tuition assistance program, which is not a part of the military contract, like the G.I. Bill for veterans benefits, but is considered an incentive to enlist.
"I have seen a lot of people who have lost their motivation to be in the military when they take away the one perk that people seem to enjoy," Sinatra said.
Several colleges have moved to defer tuition charges for the coming term to help military members who are already enrolled, and two senators, one Democrat, one Republican, have introduced legislation to bring back the tuition assistance.
Students who have already enrolled in classes using the tuition assistance program will be allowed to complete those classes, according to a memo from the Army announcing the cancellation of the program.
"This suspension is necessary given the significant budget execution challenges caused by the combined effects of a possible year-long continuing resolution and sequestration," the Army memo said. "The Army understands the impacts of this action and will re-evaluate should the budgetary situation improve."
The Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard have also suspended their tuition assistance programs.
Airman Michael Bueno works the overnight shift at Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, Texas, so that he can attend college during the day.
"One of the biggest incentives to join the military is the 100 percent tuition guarantee," he said. "We don't make much money, so tuition assistance is a big benefit recruiters use to get people to join the military."
Bueno said it seems the country is turning its back on the military.
"A lot of people in the military serve their country and protect it, but it backfires when the country tries to take away from us what they promised," he said.
Brazil names new agriculture, labor and aviation ministers
(Reuters) - Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff appointed new ministers for agriculture, civil aviation and labor on Friday, the presidential office said, in a Cabinet shuffle that left her economic team intact.
Congressman Antonio Andrade from Minas Gerais state was named agriculture minister, replacing Mendes Ribeiro, who is recovering from brain tumor surgery. Both men belong to the PMDB, Brazil's largest political party and Rousseff's main ally in her unwieldy 17-party governing coalition.
Moreira Franco, until now secretary of strategic affairs, was moved to the civil aviation portfolio, replacing Wagner Bittencourt.
That switch came after criticism of last year's auction of private concessions to run three major airports, including the country's largest in Sao Paulo, which drew smaller and less experienced consortia than the government had hoped for.
Manoel Dias, the secretary general of the PDT party, a minor coalition partner and the party where Rousseff began her political career, will move to the Labor Ministry, replacing Brizola Neto from the same party.
Despite her government's failure to restore solid growth to Brazil's once-booming economy, which grew by a disappointing 0.9 percent last year, Rousseff did not make changes to the economic team headed by Finance Minister Guido Mantega.
Other Cabinet changes are in the works, and Rousseff is expected to name an ally to the newly created ministry of small and micro businesses.
Rousseff, whose approval rating is in the high 70s, plans to run for re-election in 2014 and Cabinet appointments provide an opportunity to appease coalition allies jostling for government posts.
(Reporting by Jeferson Ribeiro; Writing by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Peter Murphy and David Brunnstrom)
Cyprus' savers bear brunt of unprecedented bailout
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(Reuters) - The euro zone struck a deal on Saturday to hand Cyprus a bailout worth 10 billion euros ($13 billion), but demanded depositors in its banks forfeit some money to stave off bankruptcy despite the risks of a wider run on savings.
The eastern Mediterranean island becomes the fifth country after Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain to turn to the euro zone for financial help during the region's debt crisis.
In a radical departure from previous aid packages - and one that gave rise to incredulity and anger across the country - euro zone finance ministers forced Cyprus' savers to pay up to 10 percent of their deposits to raise almost 6 billion euros.
Almost half of its depositors are believed to be non-resident Russians, but most of those queuing on Saturday at automatic teller machines to pull out cash appeared to be Cypriots.
"I wish I was not the minister to do this," Cypriot Finance Minister Michael Sarris said after 10 hours of late-night talks in Brussels where the package was hammered out.
"Much more money could have been lost in a bankruptcy of the banking system or indeed of the country," he said, adding that he hoped a levy and bailout would mark a new start for Cyprus.
Without a rescue, Cyprus would default and undermine the investor confidence in the euro zone that has been built up by the European Central Bank's promise last year to do whatever it takes to shore up the currency bloc.
The bailout was smaller than initially expected and is mainly needed to recapitalize Cypriot banks that were hit by a sovereign debt restructuring in Greece.
The deposit levy - set at 9.9 percent on bank deposits exceeding 100,000 euros and at 6.7 percent on anything below that - will take place on Tuesday after a bank holiday on Monday.
'THEFT, PURE AND SIMPLE'
To guard against capital flight, Cyprus will take immediate steps to prevent electronic money transfers over the weekend.
In the coastal town of Larnaca, where irate depositors queued early to withdraw money from cash machines, co-op credit societies that are normally open on Saturdays stayed closed.
"I'm extremely angry. I worked years and years to get it together and now I am losing it on the say-so of the Dutch and the Germans," said British-Cypriot Andy Georgiou, 54, who returned to Cyprus in mid-2012 with his savings.
"They call Sicily the island of the mafia. It's not Sicily, it's Cyprus. This is theft, pure and simple," said a pensioner.
The levy breaks a euro zone taboo by hitting bank depositors with losses.
It prompted Spain, considered the next most likely state to seek a sovereign rescue though supported in recent months by the ECB's debt promise, to deny savers in other countries risked being similarly penalized.
The bailout was specific to Cyprus and its bloated banking sector and "could not be extrapolated to any other country," an economy ministry source said.
In Brussels, Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem said it would not otherwise have been possible to save Cyprus's financial sector which, compared with national economic output, is more than twice as big as the EU average.
"As it is a contribution to the financial stability of Cyprus, it seems just to ask for a contribution of all deposit holders," Dijsselbloem, who chaired the ministerial meeting, told reporters.
The island's bailout had repeatedly been delayed amid concerns from other EU states that its close business relations with Russia, and a banking system flush with Russian cash, made it a conduit for money-laundering.
In return for emergency loans, Cyprus agreed to increase its corporate tax rate by 2.5 percentage points to 12.5 percent. This should boost revenues, limiting the size of the loan needed from the euro zone and keep down public debt.
Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades called a meeting of party leaders for Saturday night to brief them on the bailout.
RUSSIAN AID
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde, who attended the Brussels meeting, said she backed the deal and would ask the IMF board in Washington to contribute.
"We believe the proposal is sustainable for the Cyprus economy," she said. "The IMF is considering proposing a contribution to the financing of the package ... The exact amount is not yet specified."
Cyprus, with a gross domestic product of barely 0.2 percent of the bloc's overall output, applied for financial aid last June. But negotiations bogged down in the complexity of the deal and reluctance of the island's previous president to sign.
Moscow, which has close ties to Nicosia, is also likely to help by extending a 2.5 billion euro loan by five years to 2021 at a lower cost. Cypriot finance minister Sarris travels to Moscow for meetings on Monday to try to pin down new terms.
"My understanding is that the Russian government is ready to make (such) a contribution," said the EU's top economic official, Olli Rehn.
Cyprus originally estimated that it needed about 17 billion euros - almost the size of its entire annual output - to restore its economy to health.
But because a loan of that magnitude would increase its debt to unsustainably high levels and call into question its ability ever to pay it back, policymakers sought to reduce it by finding more revenue sources in Cyprus itself.
The Greek units of Cypriot banks were excluded from the deposit levy, Greek finance minister Yiannis Stournaras said.
($1 = 0.7654 euros)
(Additional reporting by Julien Ponthus and Michele Kambas and Harry Papachristou; Writing by Robin Emmott and John O'Donnell; Editing by John Stonestreet)
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South African policemen denied bail for taxi driver murder
JOHANNESBURG - Nine South African policemen charged with the murder of a Mozambican taxi driver who was shackled to the back of a police vehicle and dragged to a nearby station were denied bail on Tuesday.
South Sudan says can resume oil output within three weeks
ADDIS ABABA/JUBA - South Sudan will be able to resume oil production within three weeks, the oil minister said on Tuesday, after the country reached deals on border security with Sudan.Four Russians killed in U.N. helicopter crash in Congo
UNITED NATIONS - Four Russians were killed when a U.N.-contracted cargo helicopter crashed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday.UPDATE 4-South Sudan says can resume oil output within three weeks
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