Park Geun-hye pushes parties for reform

President Park Geun-hye urged political parties to support her reform efforts and invest more in improving people’s livelihoods in her first meeting with the country’s key officials this year.

She also expressed hope that the political circles would regain the public’s trust by eradicating corruption and correcting “abnormalities.”

“Our future and that of our descendants depend on the ongoing economic reform and national innovation plans,” Park said on Monday, in her New Year’s meeting with key officials including the prime minister and members of the ruling Saenuri Party. The leadership of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea did not attend citing the ongoing parliamentary strife over key bills and the controversy over the government’s Dec. 28 agreement with Japan on sex slavery.

“Unless we achieve change and reform, we will inevitably return to the past and face national difficulties.”

South Korea made remarkable progress in reforming the public sector last year by revising the civil servants’ pension system and also in the financial and education sectors, she said.

The bilateral free trade agreement with China has helped expand the nation’s economic territory. The diplomatic relations with North Korea and Japan, too, have made progresses, she said.

Despite such feats, however, there remain difficulties such as the economic slowdown of China and other emerging economies.

The president cited youth unemployment, weakening of corporate competitiveness and declining population as internal challenges and the Korean Peninsula’s diplomatic situation as an external risk.

“When I think of our future 10 years from now, I feel obliged to achieve the three-year economic development plan and the key reform plans.”

It is also crucial that the political circles should take the lead in the nation’s reform blueprint and give their efforts to improve people’s lives, she added.

The remarks were made as the National Assembly struggles to pass a set of bills, which Park claimed could help reform the labor market and revitalize the economy.

Parties are currently making last-minute negotiations on the bills so as to make meet the Jan. 8 deadline ― last day of the provisional parliamentary session.

The presidential office and the ruling party, having failed to reach an agreement with the opposition bloc, had pushed the parliamentary Speaker Rep. Chung Ui-hwa to put the bills to vote on his own authority.

“Our society is riddled with division and conflicts,” said Chung in his valedictory speech to the president.

“The only thing we can do to solve this is to harmonize and unite with one another, the ruling with the opposition parties, labor with management, and the North (Korea) with the South.”

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)

Source : The Korea Herald

 

Rents will fall; Rera revises rental index

Deepthi Nair/Dubai

Filed on January 4, 2016 | Last updated on January 4, 2016 at 05.23 pm

Hark tenants! For all of you complaining about how the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (Rera)’s rental index is inflated and out of touch with ground reality, there is good news.

Rera has finally updated its rental index at the beginning of 2016. This has helped push rents slightly lower across a few communities in Dubai between three to eight per cent. This means your landlord cannot impose arbitrary rent hikes.

The rental index is used to enforce maximum allowable rent increases on the expiry of a lease in communities across Dubai.

The index has been earning flak from residents in the past few months for lagging reality and not fully reflecting market conditions.

The Dubai Land Department had last year said the Rera index would only be updated once a year, and not every four months. This means the new price brackets suggested by Rera are recommendations for the whole of 2016.

“This fall is in line with the performance of the rental market last year. The largest change has been for the one and two-bedroom apartments, compared to the studio and four-bedroom category,” said Hussain Alladin, head of research, GCP Properties.

One-bedroom apartments in communities such as Discovery Gardens, Oud Metha, Dubai Marina, Downtown Dubai and Business Bay are now slightly cheaper.

For instance, the rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Discovery Gardens is now in the range of Dh60,000 to Dh75,000. Earlier, it was in the range between Dh65,000 and Dh75,000.

However, for those tenants on old leases who continue to pay below-market rents, there is no respite. They can brace for more rent increases this year.

Says Diya Jackson, a media professional who rents a one-bedroom apartment in Discovery Gardens: “I pay Dh52,000 for a one-bedroom apartment since I moved in 2009. That is the current rent for a studio here. I will still have to pay more rent during contract renewal next year.”

“Since rental rates follow sales prices with a lag, we may continue to witness a softening of rents in the market for the first two quarters of 2016,” informed Alladin.

“Given the supply dynamics at play, we feel rents in mid-income communities will remain stable relative to high-end properties, mirroring the price action of each segment in the last 18 months,” he added.

Meanwhile, rents are expected to remain unchanged in communities such as Jumeirah, Jumeirah Village, Mirdif, Motor City, The Greens, Dubai Silicon Oasis and Umm Suqeim.

– deepthi@khaleejtimes.com

How rent index works

* If the rent of a property is less than 10 per cent of the average rent of a similar property in the same residential area, there should be no increase.

* If the rent of a property is between 11 and 20 per cent less than the average rent of a similar property, the maximum increase is five per cent of the rent value.

* If the rent of a property is between 21 and 30 per cent less than the average rent of a similar property, the maximum increase is 10 per cent of the rent value.

* If the rent of a property is between 31 and 40 per cent less than the average rent of a similar property, the maximum increase is 15 per cent of the rent value.

* If the rent of a property is less than 40 per cent or over the average rent of a similar unit, the maximum increase is 20 per cent of the rent value.

Source : Khallej Times

Mário Negromonte, o mais achacador

Mario Negromonte “era o mais achacador”, segundo relato do delator Carlos Alexandre Rocha, o Ceará, auxiliar de Alberto Youssef.

Segundo a Veja, o ex-ministro das Cidades perdeu o cargo no primeiro mandato de Dilma Rousseff porque estaria “roubando apenas para ele próprio” e não estava “fazendo caixa” para o PP.

Negromonte, disse Ceará, recebeu 5 milhões de reais em propina na campanha de 2010. Os repasses em dinheiro eram feitos pelo irmão do ex-ministro, Adarico Negromonte.

 

Fonte : O Antagonista

A estratégia da confusão

Na representação fiscal, obtida por O Antagonista, o auditor César Nakano, o japonês da Receita Federal, aborda a estratégia do grupo Schahin para dificultar o rastreamento do dinheiro pago pela Petrobras.

Ele fala em “confusão contratual”, na qualificação dos representantes legais – os mesmos para fretadoras offshores e operadora Schahin -, confusão também relativa à “propriedade do objeto do contrato (embarcações/plataformas) e nas cláusulas de responsabilidade solidária.

A estratégia inclui também a chamada “confusão societária”, com uso de uma cadeia de holdings, sub-holdings e subsidiárias integrais em paraísos fiscais.

 

Fonte : O Antagonista

Quais os motivos da Petrobras?

Na representação fiscal, o auditor César Nakano denuncia a violação da cúpula da Petrobras do seu dever constitucional de fornecer ao Fisco informações sobre os contratos envolvendo o grupo Schahin.

“O contribuinte sempre silencia, evitando esclarecer, comprovar, demonstrar e revelar, seja no aspecto jurídico-formal, seja na abordagem material e concreta os aspetos subjetivos relacionados”, diz.

Nakano acrescenta:

“É preciso que se destaque com todas as palavras que informações de simples identificação e qualificação de partes licitantes e contratantes estão sendo reiteradamente negadas pela Petrobras, que certamente tem motivos para tal comportamento, embora não os revele”.

Quais serão os motivos da Petrobras?

 

 

Fonte : O Antagonista

Petrobras dispara na Bolsa com crise Irã-Arábia Saudita, mesmo ganhando muito pouco com ela

Notícia Publicada em 04/01/2016 14:23

Com a política de preço dos combustíveis descolada do mercado de petróleo, crise no Oriente Médio ajuda a Petrobras apenas indiretamente

Petrobras: ações sobem mais pela valorização do setor como um todo, do que por mérito (Divulgação/Agência Petrobras)

SÃO PAULO – As ações da Petrobras lideram a alta do Ibovespa, o principal indicador da Bolsa brasileira. No fechamento desta segunda-feira (4), as ordinárias (PETR3) subiam 1,17%, cotada a R$ 8,67, e as preferenciais (PETR4), 2,54%, negociadas por R$ 6,87. O desempenho contrastou com o Ibovespa, que recuou caía 2,15%, para 42.418 pontos. É verdade que o pretexto para a alta da Petrobras é o acirramento da tensão entre o Irã e a Arábia Saudita, maior produtor mundial de petróleo, mas os efeitos sobre os papéis da estatal refletem muito mais uma aposta, que impactos concretos sobre a empresa.

Mesmo com o tombo de 7% da Bolsa de Xangai, na China, a tensão entre dois dos principais países do Oriente Médio elevou em 3% a cotação mundial do petróleo. O movimento elevou as ações de petroleiras em todo o planeta, incluindo a Petrobras. Mas, a rigor, o raciocínio para a estatal deveria ser o inverso.

Sem uma política clara de reajuste dos derivados, a brasileira vem lucrando bastante com o descolamento de preços. Como a estatal é obrigada a importar parte do petróleo que refina localmente, a queda de preços do barril a beneficia. A margem fica ainda maior, com a venda dos derivados, no Brasil, com prêmios elevados. Segundo a agência de notícias Reuters, dezembro foi o mês em que a Petrobras obteve os maiores prêmios na venda de combustíveis – estimados em cerca de 20% para a gasolina e 30% para o diesel.

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Logo, em tese, se o petróleo começar a subir muito, corroerá a margem da Petrobras no refino e distribuição de derivados. Não haveria, portanto, o que comemorar com o acirramento da crise entre Irã e Arábia Saudita.

Mas é aí que entra a primeira ponderação dos analistas. Para que a margem da estatal seja zerada e retorne aos tempos em que vendia gasolina com prejuízo, porque importava petróleo caro, o barril deveria subir ainda muito mais. “Seria necessário que o petróleo subisse mais 20% ou 30%”, afirma o estrategista-chefe da Guide Investimentos, Luís Gustavo Pereira. Se isso vai, de fato, acontecer, só mesmo acompanhando o desfecho da nova briga que marca o início de 2016 no Oriente Médio.

Valorização

Uma coisa mais concreta, para os analistas, é que a alta do petróleo voltaria a valorizar os ativos do setor em geral. Traduzindo: plataformas, blocos e campos de produção valeriam mais. Isso seria uma bela notícia para a Petrobras, que começa 2016 como terminou 2015: com o pires na mão, correndo atrás de dinheiro para baixar sua bilionária dívida, manter as operações do dia a dia e, ainda, cumprir os investimentos previstos. Para conseguir tudo isso, uma das estratégias da diretoria é vender ativos em áreas não prioritárias, como no exterior, e atrair sócios para projetos importantes. Com o petróleo caro elevando o preço de seus ativos, a empresa poderia fazer mais dinheiro com isso. “Esse é um ponto interessante, que justifica a alta das ações da Petrobras hoje”, diz Pereira, da Guide.

O estrategista alerta, contudo, que outro fator pesa tanto quanto esse, e empurraria os papéis da empresa no sentido contrário: o câmbio. “O aumento do dólar é tão importante quanto o preço do petróleo, porque pressiona sua dívida”, explica. Nunca é demais lembrar que a Petrobras acumula compromissos de mais de R$ 500 bilhões, o que a torna uma das companhias mais endividadas do mundo.

Nesta segunda-feira (4), começou a circular também a notícia de que a Justiça norte-americana acatou parte dos argumentos da Petrobras, em um processo aberto por investidores de lá. Com isso, reduziu a abrangência do caso. O fato, porém, tem pouca repercussão sobre os papéis. “Trata-se de um processo muito longo, com decisões apenas no segundo semestre”, afirma Pereira, da Guide. “Além disso, o pior momento desse caso parece ter ficado para trás”. Tudo somado, pode-se dizer que as ações da Petrobras estão subindo mais na onda do setor, do que por méritos próprios.

(Atualizado às 19h, com o fechamento das ações e do pregão)

Fonte : O Financista

Petrobras sonegou dados de contratos da Schahin

Na ação fiscal contra a Schahin, obtida por O Antagonista, o auditor César Kenji Nakano detalha os contratos do grupo com a Petrobras, todos firmados via offshores.

Nakano ressalta em seu relatório que, ao longo de 20 meses, em seguidas diligências fiscais, buscou sem sucesso obter da estatal informações “de identificação e qualificação” dessas empresas.

Ao todo, foram seis intimações. Nakano fala em “recusa injustificável” da Petrobras “em apresentar os documentos intimados de forma insistente e clara”.

 

Fonte : O Antagonista

Roberto Borge Angulo praises tourism results

THE NEWS

With more than 88,000 hotel rooms, Quintana Roo remains the main tourist destination in Mexico and Latin America, the main generator of foreign currency for the country and the preferred destination for investors, said Gov. Roberto Borge Angulo.

The governor said that this year, with national and foreign investments, the number of hotel rooms in Quintana Roo increased by 2,276 from 2014, including four and five diamond hotels and five star hotels.

“Cancun has at least 14 four and five diamond hotels and the Maya Riviera has 16,” he said.

The governor commented that this year new hotel rooms were built in Cancun, Isla Mujeres and the Maya Riviera. The number of rooms in the state went from 86,638 to 88,280, with an increase of about 2 percent.

Additionally, he said that to maintain the increase in touristic infrastructure of Quintana Roo, with the support of President Enrique Peña Nieto and the Tourism Secretariat, intense promotion actions have been carried out promoting the state’s tourist destinations in national and international fairs. The fairs look to attract emerging markets and to negotiate the arrival of more airlines and more frequent flights.

The strategy to attract more tourism includes diversifying the industry by complementing the draw of beaches with ecotourism, archeology, adventure, shopping, culture and sports.

Borge Angulo highlighted that 18 of the 187 archeological sites open in the country by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) are in Quintana Roo, including Tulum, which is the third most visited site with more than 1.3 million visitors in 2015.

“Quintana Roo offers 46 malls, 17 golf courses, 34 theme parks, 58 spas, performances like Cirque du Soleil and other events put on throughout the year,” he said.

Laura Fernández Piña, the State Tourism Secretary, said that in this way tourism diversity can be strengthened in the state, offering the visitor more attractions, not just the beaches of Cancun, Cozumel and Chetumal.

 

The News

Odontología y Medicina son las carreras con mayores diferencias en el arancel

Entre las casas de estudio que muestran mayores aranceles en estas carreras, se encuentra la Universidad del Desarrollo y la Universidad Mayor.

Camila Díaz

04 de enero del 2016 / 17:11 Hrs

Entre los aranceles informados por cada universidad este año, Odontología destaca como una de las carreras de mayor valor en las diferentes casas de estudios, y en algunos casos, es la que más se aleja del arancel referencial entregado por el Estado.

La Universidad del Desarrollo es la que presenta la mayor diferencia entre el valor propuesto por el Ministerio de Educación y lo que cobra la institución a los alumnos que quieran entran en su programa. El arancel referencial 2016 para la carrera de Odontología es de $3.413.759, mientras que en la UDD tiene un valor de $7.355.549, lo que equivale a una diferencia de $3.941.790 este año.

En segundo lugar también se encuentra la Universidad del Desarrollo con una diferencia de $3.784.719 para la carrera de Medicina, seguida por la Universidad Andrés Bello con su programa para la carrera de Odontología con una diferencia de $3.747.616, respecto al arancel referencial de este año.

Así le sigue la Universidad San Sebastián con $3.686.569 de diferencia en el arancel de su carrera de Medicina y luego la Universidad Mayor con $3.666.429 de diferencia en Odontología.

Estos aranceles propuestos por el Estado son la referencia que se utiliza para medir el rango que cubren las becas y los créditos para la educación superior, sin embargo estos montos no son los utilizados por el Mineduc para establecer las parámetros de la gratuidad, ya que para esos casos es un cálculo especial para cada universidad.

En el 16° se encuentra el programa de Ingeniería Comercial de la Universidad del Desarrollo con un arancel para este año de $5.766.545, valor que supera por $3.045.725 el monto propuesto por el Estado.

 

latercera.com

‘Deluded Neanderthal view’: a victim caught up in the black arts of Canberra leaking

January 4, 2016 – 6:57PM

David Wroe

National security correspondent

Whatever Jamie Briggs’ defenders might think about the seriousness of the incident in Hong Kong, two facts are irrefutable.

The department and the government must also ensure that her future and her well-being do not suffer as a result of this schmozzle

One: the incident was examined by an independent investigator appointed by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is understood to have been deeply angered by the leak. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

Two: that investigator delivered a report that was considered by a wide range of ministers who unanimously decided Briggs had to go.

The fact that at least one of those defenders has seen fit to slip a photo and text messages to the media betrays a callous disregard for the woman. It was reprehensible for Briggs to distribute the images in the first place. Even more breathtaking is that he did so, by his own admission, after the incident came to the attention of the bureaucracy and senior figures inside the government. Some are questioning whether sending the photo – taken on his phone – is an offence equal to, if not worse than, the actual Hong Kong bar incident.

The leaking of the image was motivated by a deluded Neanderthal view that if she was in high spirits at some stage of the evening, she can’t have been too wounded by anything else that happened that night.

Scandal: Jamie Briggs. Photo: Andrew Meares

It is a risible chain of logic that should not exist within our political elite.

It is fitting therefore that Malcolm Turnbull has delivered a blast to such views. His words about privacy in sexual harassment cases are carefully chosen. But they can be read unequivocally as a shot as much at his own colleagues as to the media.

The woman, in her 20s and on her first foreign posting, made no formal complaint. She appears to have behaved in a thoroughly circumspect way, not wanting to drag herself into a stoush.

Rather, she reported it to superiors and her employer, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, took the initiative to push it further.

Yet through no fault of her own, she has been caught up in the black arts of Canberra leaking.

It is understood that counselling services have been made available to the woman. The department and the government must also ensure that her future and her well-being do not suffer as a result of this schmozzle.

Source : Canberra Times