Portugal launches labor reforms amid recession (AP)

LISBON, Portugal ? Portugal is to cut holiday entitlement, introduce more flexible working hours and cut compensation for layoffs in a package of labor reforms aimed at reversing the country's steep economic decline, officials said Tuesday.

Outdated labor practices were among the factors blamed for a decade of slender growth and mounting debts that compelled Portugal to take a euro78 billion ($99.6 billion) financial rescue package last year.

Its financial plight has aggravated Europe's sovereign debt crisis and brought fears that its economic downturn, compounded by austerity measures, could eventually force it to follow Greece and restructure its debt.

Standard & Poor's last week downgraded Portuguese debt to junk status amid forecasts the economy will contract by 3.1 percent this year. Portugal went into a double-dip recession last year when Moody's and Fitch Ratings, the other two leading ratings agencies, classified the country's debt as junk. The yield, the interest rate Portugal pays on its debt, for a 10-year bond has risen to 14.2 per cent following the S&P downgrade.

The jobless rate, meanwhile, has climbed to a record 13.2 percent, with unions staging strikes and protests against the center-right government's policies.

The labor law changes were agreed in the early hours of Tuesday morning after 17 hours of talks between the government, trade unions and business leaders.

Portugal committed to the reforms in return for the bailout granted by its European partners and the International Monetary Fund. The European union and other international bodies had long pressed Portugal to modernize its labor laws.

The bailout deal was signed by all the country's main political parties, but agreement on detailed measures required months of negotiations with unions and business confederations.

Economy and Employment Minister Alvaro Santos Pereira said the reforms would make the Portuguese economy more competitive and drive fresh growth.

He said the agreement "shows the world and the markets ... that we are laying the foundations to beat this crisis."

Full details of the agreement, which is due to be signed at a ceremony with Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho on Wednesday, were not immediately available.

However, delegates who attended the talks did say the changes included: shortening workers' annual vacation entitlement from 25 days to 22, scrapping at least three public holidays, reducing layoff payouts, cutting overtime pay levels, and giving companies 150 work hours per employee without overtime to be used by employer as and when they were needed.

Also, jobless people who accept work that pays less than their unemployment benefit are to keep 50 percent of that benefit.

But the government had to ditch its controversial proposal allowing companies to demand that staff work an extra 30 minutes a day without overtime pay. The novel measure, the government claimed, would have reduced unit labor costs and thereby made exports cheaper.

But trade unions balked at the idea, saying it would overturn labor movements' long struggle for an eight-hour day, and the main opposition Socialist Party also opposed it, arguing there was no economic study to support the government's claim. Business leaders were also lukewarm on the measure, saying it would bring limited benefits.

Tuesday's agreement won the blessing of the General Workers' Union, one of the country's two main trade union confederations. However, the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers, the other group, said it would fight the measures.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120117/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_portugal_financial_crisis

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Daisy Lowe, human blob cap Rio fashion week (AP)

RIO DE JANEIRO ? An It Girl and an orange spandex blob of writhing humanity capped Rio de Janeiro's five-day-long fashion week Saturday, lending a gimmicky end to the city's otherwise strong winter 2012 collections.

In a bid to create the kind of buzz its clothes themselves can't, streetwear label Auslander regularly invites celebrities to walk in its shows. But this season's special guest, British It Girl Daisy Lowe, left the crowd cold.

Though Lowe gave it the old college try, throwing her hips dramatically as she sauntered down the catwalk in what amounted to a one-piece swimsuit, the audience didn't seem to know or care who she was. (By contrast, the arrival of a Brazilian actress caused a near riot earlier.)

Without the kind of collective euphoria a good celebrity sighting can generate, the show fell flat. Many of the men's and women's pieces were the kind of casual urban fares you see on practically every sidewalk, and the ponchos, shawls, skirts and dresses made from mohair blankets looked nothing short of infernal, considering the 100 degree weather outside.

If you want people to concentrate on the clothes, the ideal fashion show backdrop is probably not a giant parachute in orange spandex with a dozen people squirming, thrashing and wiggling underneath it. But for experimental Rio-based label Oestudio, the clothes are clearly beside the point. It's all about putting on a unique show ? and the writhing blob was ideally suited for the task.

The clothes included sweatshirts like cocoons, without any sleeves, cropped pants with one extra-wide palazzo leg and the other a narrow cigarette, and button-down shirts cinched at the waist with an extra pair of sleeves. (Perhaps those shorn from the sweatshirts?) The models ? a refreshingly ethnically mixed cast that appeared to include nonprofessionals ? swerved as they took to the catwalk to avoid being hit by the random fist, shoulder, knee or face that would sporadically poke out of the spandex.

In comparison with the Oestudio show, everything else seemed a bit anticlimactic. But at Andrea Marques, it was definitely the good kind of anticlimactic.

The designer looked to the bourgeois styles of the 1970s, serving up the pleated A-line skirts and tie-front blouses in the lightest chiffon. Maxi-dresses with long sleeves and high collars didn't show an inch of skin, but the snake skin printed silk was suggestively see-through. Transparency is not an easy look for most women, but slap a lining onto Marques' dresses and feather-light shirts and you'd have yourself a fetching and wearable collection.

Giulia Borges' short, layered looks in black and white lace, tulle and chiffon were at once edgy and whisper-light. Despite looking like they'd weigh in at mere ounces, the short lace cocktail dresses ? some worn with satin tuxedo jackets fitted with peplums and trailing tails ? had a street-savvy toughness about them. Like gangster molls who just might be concealing a razor blade in their elegant French twist hairdo, Borges' lovely ladies were not to be messed with.

The narrative at Nica Kessler was less clear-cut. With maxi-dresses that had a vaguely '70s vibe mixed in with sweaterdresses that felt like '80s power dressing, Kessler's collection was all over the place.

Even the models looked a bit lost. They struggled to negotiate three mirrored podiums set awkwardly in the middle of the catwalk, and there were a few near-collisions. But then again it might have been the models' hair that was to blame: long strands were combed down over their faces, giving them a vaguely Cousin It-ish look.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/fashion/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120115/ap_on_en_ot/lt_brazil_rio_fashion

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Justice Dept says recent recess appointments legal

The department released a 23-page legal opinion Thursday summarizing the advice it gave the White House before the Jan. 4?appointments. GOP leaders have argued the Senate was not technically in?recess?when Obama acted so the regular Senate confirmation process should have been followed.

The Justice Department is publicly rebutting Republican criticism of the legality of President Barack Obama's recent?recess?appointments?of a national consumer watchdog and other officials.

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The department released a 23-page legal opinion Thursday summarizing the advice it gave the White House before the Jan. 4?appointments. GOP leaders have argued the Senate was not technically in?recess?when Obama acted so the regular Senate confirmation process should have been followed.

Assistant Attorney General Virginia Seitz wrote that the president has authority to make such?appointmentsbecause the Senate is on a 20-day?recess, even though it has held periodic pro forma sessions in which no business is conducted. Seitz argued the pro forma sessions ? some with as few as one member present ? have not been sufficient for the chamber to exercise its constitutional authority to advise and consent to normal presidential nominations.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has said Obama has endangered the nation's systems of checks and balances, and Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch says the?appointments?are a very grave decision by an autocratic White House.

Senate Republicans have been using their ability to block or stall Senate confirmation of some regular nominees as a way to curb agencies they believe have taken or are poised to take actions they disagree with.

On Jan. 4, Obama?appointed?Richard Cordray, a former attorney general of Ohio, to be the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Obama also?appointed?two Democrats and a Republican to the National Labor Relations Board that day. There was stiff Republican opposition to creating the new consumer agency, which was authorized in the financial regulation law, and Republicans have argued that the labor board has tilted toward unions under Obama's Democratic administration.

The Justice official who wrote the opinion, Seitz, heads the department's Office of Legal Counsel, which is empowered to provide binding legal opinions to the executive branch.

Her new memo cites a Justice Department legal opinion from President George W. Bush's Republican administration in justifying Obama's recent?appointments. The Bush administration opinion from 2004 says that a?recess?during a session of the Senate can meet constitutional requirements for permitting the president to make?recess?appointments?as long as the?recess?is of sufficient length. Seitz noted that the last five presidents have made?recess?appointments?during?recesses?of 14 days or less.

In December, the Senate agreed to adjourn until Jan. 23 but to convene pro forma sessions in which no business was to be conducted every Tuesday and Friday.

The Senate pro forma sessions in which no business was conducted, do not "in our opinion" interrupt therecess?"in a manner that would preclude the president" from acting, Seitz wrote in her Jan. 6 opinion.

Beginning in late 2007, the Senate has frequently conducted pro forma sessions that typically last only a few seconds and that "apparently require the presence of only one senator," Seitz wrote. Under a legal framework dating back nearly a century,?recess?appointments?have been permitted when the Senate cannot receive communications from the president or participate as a body in confirming nominees.

In an op-ed article in the Washington Post, Edwin Meese, who served as attorney general under Republican President Ronald Reagan, and Todd Gaziano, a former Office of Legal Counsel attorney who is now a fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, called Obama's actions "a breathtaking violation of the separation of powers."

The GOP's unsuccessful opposition to creating the consumer watchdog agency has turned into opposition to potential nominees to lead the office. Stiff Republican opposition headed Obama off from even nominating Elizabeth Warren, the interim official who helped set up the office, to be its permanent chief.

There is GOP resistance as well to filling slots on the National Labor Relations Board that Republicans feel has become pro-labor under Obama. If Republicans keep enough slots vacant on the labor board, they can prevent it from acting at all.

The pro forma sessions have been used by both Democratic and Republican senators in an effort to stave offrecess?appointments.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in 2008 that the pro forma sessions were designed to prevent the president ? at that time Bush ? from exercising his constitutional power to make?recess?appointments.

Last year with Obama in the White House, some Republican senators urged House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, not to pass any resolution that would allow the Senate to?recess?or adjourn for more than three days. The Constitution provides that neither the House nor the Senate shall adjourn for more than three days without the consent of the other. No concurrent resolution of adjournment has been introduced in either chamber since May of last year.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/LWFpoDYHta8/Justice-Dept-says-recent-recess-appointments-legal

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Perry: Marines in video are 'kids,' not criminals (The Arizona Republic)

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Nigeria strikes set to resume Monday (Reuters)

ABUJA (Reuters) ? Nigerian labor unions said they would resume nationwide strikes on Monday, crippling the second largest economy in Africa, after failing to reach a compromise with the government over scrapped fuel subsidies.

However, the main oil union said it was maintaining the output of Africa's No. 1 crude producer, not joining walkouts for the time being, and the government said more talks would be held on Sunday despite the unsuccessful round the day before.

"There will be further negotiations today. The government is still open for dialogue. Further consultations will carry on today and by the evening something definite will have to come out," presidential spokesman Reuben Abati told Reuters.

Tens of thousands took to the streets for strikes over five successive days last week in protest against the removal of a fuel subsidy on January 1 that more than doubled the pump price of petrol - to 150 naira ($0.93) per liter from 65 naira.

"The talks between the Federal Government and Labor represented by the Nigeria Labor Congress and Trade Union Congress in Abuja on Saturday stalled due to differences on the methodology in finding a solution to the crisis," Nigeria's two biggest unions said in a statement.

"The indefinite strikes, rallies and protests continue nationwide from Monday," it said, but adding: "The Labor Movement pledges that whenever and wherever government invites us for talks, we shall be there without any conditionality."

However, in a possible move to coax concessions from the government, NLC President Abdulwaheed Omar said PENGASSAN, the oil workers union, "will not shut down oil production, as earlier planned for Sunday."

Previously, workers in Nigeria's 2 million barrel-per-day oil industry, which accounts for 8 percent of U.S. oil imports and is an important source of energy supply in Europe and Asia, said they would cut output if talks broke down, intensifying pressure on President Goodluck Jonathan and his team.

Crude exports account for more than 90 percent of Nigeria's foreign exchange earnings and 80 percent of government revenues.

Unions said they wanted the government to immediately bring the price back down to 65 naira, at which point they would cancel strikes and protests and negotiations could continue.

The government has been quiet on the details of negotiations, but slashing the pump price to 65 naira without any guarantee of subsidies being removed in the future would be a major climbdown, relinquishing its biggest bargaining chip.

Unions said the government appeared willing to reduce the petrol price but not to return it to subsidized levels.

Workers had suspended strike action for the weekend because of Saturday's talks and to allow protesters to rest. Unions intend to have internal strategy meetings on Sunday.

Although the protests were mostly peaceful last week, several people died in clashes with police and 600 were treated for injuries, according to the International Red Cross.

CRISIS PUSHES UP OIL PRICES

Global oil prices were boosted by Nigeria supply fears late last week and a serious production outage would push them sharply higher, according to traders and analysts.

"All PENGASSAN branches and members at all the production platforms ... (will) execute immediately the systematic shutdown of oil production should the negotiation with the government break down," the main oil union said.

Industry officials doubt unions can stop crude oil exports completely because production is largely automated and Nigeria has crude stored in reserves, but any outage could still have a significant dampening impact on the economy.

Even with oil output remaining intact, the strikes were costing Nigeria around $600 million a day, Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi told Reuters.

The strikes have prevented tankers from delivering supplies to Nigeria, which, despite its oil riches, imports most of its refined petroleum products.

Motorists have been queuing at the handful of petrol stations with any fuel left in the commercial hub Lagos and capital Abuja. Black market sellers are offering small amounts at the side of the road for around 350 naira per liter.

Many economists have said the subsidies were corrupt and wasteful with billions of dollars of state funds going into the hands of a cartel of fuel importers, while giving little benefit to millions of poor Nigerians.

But the Nigerian public, who have witnessed decades of political corruption and worsening public services, view cheaper fuel as their most tangible welfare benefit.

The strikes began with gripes over subsidies but in some areas have become a fight against long-term government failures.

Nigeria sells more than $200 million in crude oil a day and holds the world's seventh largest gas reserves. But the infrastructure is so badly managed that it only provides 160 million people with enough power to support a medium sized European city, meaning most people live without power.

The confrontation is a serious setback for Jonathan, already under fire for failing to quell an increasingly violent Islamist insurgency in the north.

(Additional reporting by Joe Brock in Abuja, James Jukwey, Chijioke Ohuocha and Tim Cocks in Lagos, Mike Oboh in Kano; Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by XXXXX)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120115/wl_nm/us_nigeria_strike

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Merkel: Europe faces 'long road' to win back trust (AP)

BERLIN ? German Chancellor Angela Merkel says Standard & Poor's downgrades of nine eurozone countries underline the fact that Europe has a "long road" in front of it to win back investors' confidence.

Merkel pushed Saturday for European countries to implement "as soon as possible" a planned pact to strengthen budget discipline and said eurozone countries also must move quickly to implement their permanent rescue fund ? the so-called European Stability Mechanism.

Germany wasn't downgraded by S&P, but France, with which it has co-piloted the rescue effort, lost its top-notch AAA rating.

Merkel said the decision "won't torpedo" the work of the current, temporary eurozone rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Facility.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

PARIS (AP) ? France's prime minister said Saturday his country will push ahead with cost-cutting measures after its top-tier debt rating was downgraded, a blow with repercussions across financially beleaguered Europe.

Other European countries from Austria to Cyprus assailed ratings agency Standard & Poor's after a raft of downgrades Friday night. The move may make it more expensive for struggling countries to borrow money, reduce debts and avoid a new recession.

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon struck a somber, measured tone when responding Saturday to the downgrade, which was particularly wounding to France's self-image and could hurt bailout efforts for struggling eurozone countries. France is central to those efforts, and the downgrade, by pushing up its own borrowing costs, could make it harder for France to help others.

Fillon said the downgrade confirmed his conservative government's plans for more reforms to bring down debts, despite worries that more austerity measures could suffocate growth.

The downgrade, coming three months before France holds presidential elections, was "an alert that should not be dramatized any more than it should be under-estimated," he said. He insisted that France is a reliable investment.

Standard & Poor's stripped France of its coveted AAA status, knocking it down one notch to AA+. It dropped Italy even lower. Germany retained its top-notch rating, but Portugal's debt was consigned to junk.

Cyprus' finance minister called Standard & Poor's two-notch downgrade of his eurozone country to junk status "arbitrary and unfounded."

Kikis Kazamias said on Saturday that the agency ignored the island's deficit-cutting measures as well as the discovery of significant offshore natural gas deposits. He said the action illustrates once more how credit ratings agencies exacerbate Europe's debt crisis.

Austria's chancellor criticized S&P's decision to strip his country of the top AAA rating, and noted that his coalition government is working on an austerity package.

Werner Faymann wrote on his Facebook page that "Austria's economic data remain very good." He added that the decision showed "that Austria must become more independent from the financial markets."

The man who tops polls ahead of France's presidential elections, Socialist Francois Hollande, said the downgrade was a punishment for conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy's policies. He lashed out Saturday at austerity measures saying they were stifling growth and France's competitivity.

The downgrade brought a downbeat end to a mildly encouraging week for Europe's heavily indebted nations and served a reminder the 17-country eurozone faces another tough year.

France's downgrade to AA+ lowers it to the level of U.S. long-term debt, which S&P downgraded last summer. S&P had warned 15 European nations in December that they were at risk for a downgrade.

Stocks fell Friday as downgrade rumors reached the trading floors of Europe and the United States. But the declines were nothing like the wrenching swings of last summer and fall, when the debt crisis threw the markets into turmoil.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120114/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_europe_financial_crisis

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AP source: House Republicans got discounted loans (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Two veteran House Republicans received discounted mortgage loans from the now-defunct Countrywide Financial Corp. under a VIP program, a congressional official said Friday.

The discounts went to Reps. Howard McKeon and Elton Gallegly of California, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the loans and requested anonymity. Their identities were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has been investigating whether members of Congress received VIP discounts. The Associated Press reported previously that four House members had received the discounts. One of the four remains unidentified publicly.

Records show that Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y, also received discounts. Towns told the AP previously that he was not aware of receiving any discounts. McKeon and Gallegly told the Journal that they also were not aware of receiving discounted loans and did not know their mortgages were processed by the VIP unit.

The Journal said the 1998 loan to McKean, who is chairman of the Armed Services Committee, totaled $315,000. Gallegly's 2005 loan totaled $77,000 in 2005.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the oversight committee, informed both lawmakers that documents received from Bank of America ? it bought Countrywide ? showed they went through the special unit.

Issa has sent the information to the House Ethics Committee, which determines whether House members violated standards of conduct. A discounted loan could be considered a gift. Gifts are virtually banned under House rules.

None of the lawmakers has been accused by the ethics panel of any wrongdoing, and may never be if they convince investigators they had no knowledge of the discounts.

Countrywide was the nation's largest mortgage company and played a major role in the U.S. financial crisis by issuing subprime loans. The company also had its VIP program, with some of the favored customers known as "Friends of Angelo" ? a reference to chief executive Angelo Mozilo.

Mozilo in 2010 agreed to more than $67 million in penalties in a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120114/ap_on_go_co/us_countrywide_house

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