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FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012 Romney’s speech to Republican convention to be vital moment Big speech culminates Tampa convention TAMPA: Mitt Romney faces a critical test in his White House bid yesterday when he addresses the Republican National Convention, an opportunity to convince millions of Americans that he can forge a path to economic rebirth and provide better leadership than President Barack Obama. It will be Romney’s biggest television audience to date as much of the nation tunes in, giving some voters their first extended look at the 65-year-old former Massachusetts governor who unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination in 2008. Romney, who can often come across as stiff, faces the challenge of making Americans feel more comfortable with him. He has a hard act to follow after the ringing “you can trust Mitt” endorsement delivered by his wife, Ann, on Tuesday night, a speech that was widely viewed as one of the most significant ever given by an aspiring first lady. Romney got a strong testimonial on Wednesday night from his vice presidential running mate, Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, who generated the most enthusiasm so far at the convention with his address. “After four years of getting the run-around, America needs a turnaround, and the man for the job is Governor Mitt Romney,” said Ryan. As portrayed by Democrats, Romney is alternately a heartless corporate raider, wealthy elitist, tax evader and policy flip-flopper who should not be trusted with the keys to the White House. Despite the attacks, Romney is running even with Obama in the polls in a race that is too close to call. A Reuters/Ipsos poll on Wednesday showed the two men tied at 43 percent each. But Obama has the advantage over Romney in likability, an important characteristic that may mask other problems that the Democratic incumbent has in persuading voters to give him four more years. Arizona Senator John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee in 2008 who lost to Obama, said Romney needs to accomplish two tasks: one, convince Americans “that they believe in him and trust in him, and two, that he has a concrete plan BRASILIA: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff enacted legislation Wednesday that reserves half the enrollment at federal universities for students from public schools and gives priority to black, indigenous and mixed-race students. The law was approved earlier this month by the Senate after 13 years of debate, and was enacted by the president alongside the ministers of education and racial equality, Aloizio Mercadante and Luiza Bairros, the presidential press service said. “The legislation addresses a double challenge: first, democratizing access to universities and maintaining high quality of education,” Rousseff said. The law requires 50 percent of seats at federal universi- to get our economy back on the right track.” “We’ve got to reduce the unfavorables, and many Americans will be looking at him for the first time,” McCain told Reuters. Long journey Romney’s big speech culminates a long journey. After failing to win the Republican nomination in 2008, he plotted a return to the political arena. This year he was tested time and again by a series of conservative alternatives from Newt Gingrich to Rick Santorum. He outlasted all of them. Romney has some inherent advantages in his race against Obama. He is topping the Democrat in campaign donations, and the weakness of the U.S. economy, with a staggering 8.3 percent unemployment rate, gives him a lethal argument for change. Even so, Romney is far from closing the deal. It is unclear whether his economic proposals for tax cuts and deregulation of industries would rekindle growth and keep taxpayers dollars flowing into the Treasury to pay for expensive government entitlement programs, such as the Medicare health insurance program for seniors, which he wants to reform. Romney’s convention speech offers him a chance to break through the blizzard of negative television ads about him. Republican delegates at the Tampa convention recommended Romney be himself in his speech, talk about his background as a businessman and Olympic organizer, and offer a way forward. New York State Senator Mike Nozzolio said Romney needs to explain to voters in an understandable way that he is “competent, directed, focused, and can make the message appeal to folks TAMPA: US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney along with his grandchildren watches the Republican National Convention on television in their hotel room. — AP around the kitchen table. “He’s going to be the guest of millions of Americans in their living rooms, and this is a wonderful opportunity for people to understand what he knows and where he wants to take us,” Nozzolio said. Donna Gosney, of Boone County, West Virginia, wearing a plastic coal miner’s helmet festooned with political stickers, said Romney simply needs to say what he would do to reignite substantial job growth.“We’ve got 2,000 reasons in Boone County to vote for Mitt Romney. They’re all miners without jobs,” she said. Frank Steed, of Navarro County, Texas, said Romney should not worry about trying to appear warm and fuzzy. “He is who he is,” said Steed. “And I think he ought to be proud of that. He’s a businessman. He’s not a politician.” — Reuters Brazil enacts university quota law ties to go to students who completed their secondary education in public schools. In Brazil, many wealthy families send their children to private schools, where the standard of education is often much higher. The 50 percent quota will include a number of seats for ethnic minorities, proportional to the demographics in each state of the South American country. Of Brazil’s 59 federal universities, 32 already have limited quota systems in place. More than half of Brazil’s population of 191 million is of African origin, but recent findings show that only 2.2 percent of Afro-Brazilians currently have access to universities. — AFP International 200 US Marines join anti-drug efforts GUATEMALA CITY: A team of 200 US Marines began patrolling Guatemala’s western coast this week in an unprecedented operation to beat drug traffickers in the Central America region, a US military spokesman said Wednesday. “I’d say it’s extremely unique. This is the first Marine deployment that directly supports countering transnational crime in this area, and it’s certainly the largest footprint we’ve had in that area in quite some time,” said Marine Staff Sgt. Earnest Barnes at the US Southern Command in Doral, Florida. It was 50 years ago when the US military last sent any significant aid and equipment into Guatemala, establishing a base to support counter-insurgency efforts during a guerrilla uprising. That movement led to 36 years of war that left 200,000 dead, mostly indigent Maya farmers. The US pulled out in 1978. Guatemalan authorities say they signed a treaty allowing the US military to conduct the operations on July 16. Less than a month later an Air Force C-5 transport plane flew into Guatemala City from North Carolina loaded with the Marines and four UH-1 “Huey” helicopters. After two weeks of setting up camp, establishing computer connections and training at the Guatemalan air base at Retalhuleu, the Marines ran through rehearsal exercises, Barnes said. Last week, their commander “gave us the thumbs up” to begin active operations, he said. This week the Marines have been patrolling waterways and the coastline, looking for fast power boats and self-propelled “narco-submarines” used to smuggle drugs along Central America’s Pacific Coast. US officials say the “drug subs” can carry up to 11 tons of illegal cargo up to 5,000 miles. Col Erick Escobedo, spokesman for Guatemalan Military Forces and Defense Ministry, said that so far the Marines have brought about the seizure of one small-engine aircraft and a car, but made no arrests. He said he expected the Marines to in Guatemala for about two months. If the Marines find suspected boats, Barnes said, they will contact their Guatemalan counterparts in a special operations unit from the Guatemalan navy that will move in for the bust. Barnes said the Marines will not accompany arrest mission, but they do have the right to defend themselves if fired on. The Marines are deployed as part of Operation Martillo, a broader effort started last Jan. 15 to stop drug trafficking along the Central American coast. Focused exclusively on drug dealers in airplanes or boats, the US-led operation involves troops or law enforcement agents from Belize, Britain, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, France, Guatemala, Honduras, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama and Spain. Eighty percent of cocaine smoked, snorted and swallowed in the US passes through Central America, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. Eight out of every 10 tons of that cocaine are loaded on vessels known as “go fasts,” which are open hulled boats 20 to 50 feet long with as many as four engines, according to the Defense Department. In a recent congressional briefing in Washington, Rear Adm. Charles Michel said the boats, carrying anywhere from 300 kilograms to 3.5 metric tons of cocaine, typically leave Colombia and follow the western Caribbean coastline of Central America to make landfall, principally in Honduras. In the Pacific, the same type of vessels will leave Colombia or Ecuador and travel to Guatemala, Panama, Costa Rica or Mexico, Michel said. “We fight a highly mobile, disciplined and wellfunded adversary that threatens democratic governments, terrorizes populations, impedes economic development and creates regional instability,” he said, noting that authorities are able to stop only one out of every four suspected traffickers they spot. This month’s Guatemala operation by the Marines comes soon after raids under an aggressive enforcement strategy that has sharply increased the interception of illegal drug flights in Honduras resulted in the death of one person in June and four in May. — AP
Business FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012 Egypt index climbs, UAE falls before Fed signal JAL to raise up to $8.4bn in share sale ATHENS: A woman is reflected in a graffiti-covered mirror as she waits for customers outside her sign-making shop in central Athens yesterday. Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras promised his austerity-weary countrymen yesterday that new spending cuts planned for 2013-14 will be the last, but warned that without them the nation would have to leave the 17member eurozone. — AP US shares follow Europe lower Euro gains ahead of Bernanke speech NEW YORK: Stocks fell yesterday on uncertainty over the prospect for economic stimulus by the US Federal Reserve while the euro edged up after China voiced some support for the debttroubled euro zone. A successful Italian bond sale pointed to growing confidence among investors that the European Central Bank will take measures shortly to tackle more effectively the debt crisis that has plagued the 17-member currency bloc. Investors waited to see if Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke delivers firmer hints on more monetary easing at a meeting of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming today. US and European stocks declined as investors closed out positions ahead of Bernanke’s speech, which is expected to provide some clues to the Fed’s next move. “People are taking money off the table ahead of the Fed meeting, but this isn’t a panic move as seen by all sectors being impacted about the same,” said Jerry Harris, president of asset management at Sterne Agee in Birmingham, Alabama. “I wouldn’t call this a run from risky assets. We were overdue for some profit taking.” All 10 S&P sectors were lower. The cyclical groups, which closely track the pace of economic growth, declined. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 91.33 points, or 0.70 percent, at 13,016.15. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was down 9.92 points, or 0.70 percent, at 1,400.57. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 27.43 points, or 0.89 percent, at 3,053.75. In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.6 percent at 1,079.39. MSCI’s all-country world equity index, which has edged down over the past seven sessions, was 0.8 percent lower at 320.73. Any signal from Bernanke that the US central bank will embark on another asset buying program would weigh broadly on the dollar. The euro was up 0.2 percent at $1.2501, while the US dollar index was up 0.2 percent at 81.676. A rise above $1.2590 would mark the euro’s strongest level in eight weeks. Investors and economists have become more skeptical over the past two weeks that the Fed will announce another round of bond buying, or “quantitative easing,” at its mid-September meeting, according to Reuters polls during the last week. “The risk with Jackson Hole is that unless there are further strong signals of more easing, the market will take it as a disappointment,” said Christian Lawrence, currency strategist at Rabobank, adding that this would be positive for the dollar. “The bar is quite high, and if there is any paring back of talk of QE, the market is likely to react more because it is more or less expecting it.” The euro gained some support after Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who met German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Beijing yeterday, said he was confident the euro zone could pull out of its debt crisis and that China would be willing, after a proper risk assessment, to keep buying the region’s government debt. PAGE 20 PAGE 21 US Treasuries gained in price. Discounting the likelihood of the Fed’s launching new stimulus when it meets next month has been the predominant trade in recent weeks despite uncertainty over what debt would be purchased in any new program. The benchmark 10-year US Treasury note was up 7/32 in price to yield 1.6276 percent. Growing expectations of a beefed-up bond-buying program from the ECB encouraged solid demand at a sale of 7.3 billion euros ($9.15 billion) of new five- and 10-year Italian sovereign bonds on Thursday. Oil futures slid below $113 a barrel as investors looked to forthcoming data to shed light on the direction Bernanke might take. The Chicago Purchasing Managers Index and factory orders are due out on Friday and could shed light on the economy of the world’s largest crude buyer. Brent crude for October delivery fell 2 cents to $112.52 a barrel. US crude fell for a second session, down $1.23 to $94.26 a barrel. — Reuters
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